Phantom Thief's a Kid!
by Anaiese Von Claire
Summary: A new boy has joined Conan's class and threatens his position as the smart, go-to kid! Worse yet it's one of Conan's master rivals!
1. Conan vs Lupin: Round 1!

**I wanted to write a funny Detective Conan story, one where Conan was driven crazy...but not to insanity. Anywho, no long intro I think you'll get what's goin' on. :D**

Haibara neatly stacked her books on her desk and hung her bag on the table. The children around her swarmed and chattered talking about various video games and TV programs they watched recently. She smoothed back her hair while looking at her reflecting in her phone then glanced up to see Conan enter the classroom. Instead of his usual plodding, he came in and bounced right up to her and literally jumped into the seat next to her. "Good morning, little girl! It's a fine day, isn't it? Boy, it sure smells funny in here!"

"Kudo-kun? Are you feeling okay?" Haibara asked, very confused by his happy-go-lucky behavior.

"Sure! It's just so different looking at life when you're short!"

"You're not Kudo."

"What? Of course I'm Kudo! Who else would I be?" Haibara gave the boy and deep glare and analyzed him thoroughly. He looked _exactly _like Conan, but it was obvious he wasn't him.

Just in time, Conan wandered his way into class and looked slightly surprised to see an person identical to himself sitting in his seat. Then he lit up. "Oh! You must be new! What's your name?"

"Kur—I mean Kitsune Lupin! Yep, my father is a huge Arséne Lupin fan, so he names me after him!"

"I see, I'm sure he was. How old are you...Lupin-kun?"

"Seven, of course! Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Hibara, do you think he's seven?"

"Not really. He must be older than that."

The boy looked between the skeptical glances of the two classmates then laughed nervously. "Is this how you treat all new kids? By staring at them...?"

"Okay, class we have a new student today," Kobayashi-sensei announced, sparing the boy from Conan and Hibara's piercing gazes. He dashed up to the front and stood straight up right next to the teacher. "Go ahead and introduce yourself."

"My names is Kitsune Lupin! I am seven years old!" he emphasized each of the facts.

"Well Lupin-kun, why don't you sit next to Conan-kun?" Kobayashi-sensei found this very clever.

"Um, maybe somewhere else..." he tried, Kobayashi grinned and Lupin gave in and took a seat next to Conan. He gave him a slight grin. Conan ignored him.

Classes went quickly and in everything Conan acted oblivious to Lupin's presence. School ended and before he could go anywhere Lupin was ambushed by Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko, followed slowly by Conan and Hibara.

"Lupin-kun! You look so much like Conan-kun!" Ayumi squeaked happily. "are you guys twins?"

Lupin turned around. "You could say that! However we are exact opposites of each other! While Conan-kun is cold and mean," Lupin got down on one knee and took Ayumi's hand in his. "I prefer to be warm and friendly," he gently kissed her hand and she blushed deeply. This, of course, upset Genta and Mitsuhiko very much and Genta grabbed Lupin by the collar.

"What do you think you're doing?" he bellowed in his face.

"Yeah! Why are you making Ayumi-chan blush?"

Lupin pushed Genta away and straightened his shirt. "I was just greeting her in a fashion that any man should greet a beautiful woman." The two boys' eyes widened. "So what's up?"

"We just thought you might be lonely, this being your first day of school and all," Ayumi told him as she recovered from shock. "We were wondering if you would like to be friends!"

"Well that's..."

"I'm sure he can make friends very easily!" Conan said clapping Lupin on the shoulder. "In fact, he already said he wanted to come over to Professor Agasa's house with Hibara and I. I'm sure you guys are busy so go ahead on home before us..."

"Nope! Not busy at all! Can we come over to Dr. Agasa's house too?" the three detective boys asked.

"Um..."

"Kitsune-kun said he wants to get to know us on an individual basis and since he sits next to him, he's getting to know about Edogawa-kun first," Hibara informed the kids.

"I guess that makes sense," Mitsuhiko replied. "well then see you tomorrow Lupin-kun!"

"See ya!" the other two called as all three ran off. Conan and Hibara began to walk, Lupin was silently forced to follow.

They arrived at the professor's house and Agasa had a slightly confused expression on his face. "Uh, who's this?"

"This is Lupin, or so he says," Conan said curtly.

"Wow, he looks exactly like you," Agasa remarked. He paused for a second then a light bulb lit up. "You don't think..."

"Well, Kid, that's you right?" Conan asked.

The little boy fidgeted then sighed. "You've got me. Kaito at your service."

Conan nodded. "So, what happened? What made you..."

"Shrink like you did? It's a long story, but it seems you have the time for it," Kaito reclined on the couch, resting his feet on the arm while the rest of the group stood and waited patiently. "A little prior information before the story though...do you know why I always return the things I steal?"

"No, but I've noticed that it is a weird habit of yours," Conan answered crossing his arms and looking sideways at the overly relaxed guest.

"Well I'm not borrowing the jewels because I like to feel the rush of stealing and getting away with it. No. I do it so I can find Pandora."

"Pandora?"

"It's a jewel said to grant a person immortality. The organization I am after is looking for it and I swore to find it before them and destroy it before they could even find it."

"That's a little ridiculous. A jewel that grants immortality? Nonsense."

"Exactly what I think, but it's to avenge my father whom they murdered."

Conan looked surprised. "They killed your father? Was he..."

"Kaito Kid before me? Yes."

"I wasn't going to ask that. I was wondering if he was in the organization before..."

Kaito paused and seemed to consider this idea. it wasn't unknown that once the organization found a traitor or had no use for anyone anymore the were eliminated. _I certainly hope not..._

"I wouldn't think so. Anyway, it seems they somehow caught me while I was returning a jewel and fed me the same experimental drug that you got. Apparently their section of the organization hasn't gotten the memo to stop using the drug. That or it's still in use. Now do you see why I got tied up in this and how I need you not to reveal my identity?" Kaito gave a wide smile. "You're Conan and I'm Lupin, we can make a wonderful partnership if we team up to beat these guys! Your detective skills and the information you know and my tricks and what I know, we could take down this organization, get our bodies back to normal and get our girls in no time!" Kaito looked at the unconvinced Conan. "What?"

"Why would I team up with a thief like you? And..." Conan blushed slightly."'Get our girls?' what's that supposed to mean?"

Kaito gave him a blank stare. "Everyone knows you and that girl, Ran are made for each other...need I explain more? Also, why wouldn't you want to work with the best thief ever? We both know how smart we are, and it seems you haven't made any progress in your findings of the organization...and besides, two heads are better than one!"

"He has a point Shinichi," Dr. Agasa said.

"This could work very well," Hibara mumbled to herself. "Two test subjects, so if Kudo-kun builds up a resistance to the antidote I can easily test Kaito-kun..."

Kaito looked over at Conan, he shook his head. "One thing," Kaito added. "If you're going to be 'testing' on me, you better make an antidote that doesn't make me feel like I'm going to burn to death."

"Kudo-kun doesn't seem to mind it, as long as he can get back to his former self."

"Well I'm a bit more sensitive to that, and unlike him, I don't want Aoko...I mean my friends thinking I have some kind of disease that makes me pass out every time I seem them..."

"Why do you think of these things?" Conan wondered.

"Because, I have the 'cool' image to keep up. I can't go around screaming in pain like you do!" Conan didn't answer. "Well, this has been a good talk. I think I'll join your little detective group at times, but they're exhausting so I'll leave them to you. See you tomorrow, Little Detective." Kaito turned to leave but was stopped by Conan.

"Hold on, what about your mother? Does she know...?"

"Nope, but I can tell her over chat. There's no problems with me living by myself because I do most of the time anyway! And I'm sure I can cope with being so short, especially if you can. I'm at least two centimeters taller then you..."

Conan's temper snapped, _he's so irritating! And I have to go to school with him indefinitely?_ "Get out," he pointed to the door.

"But I thought..."

"Get out!" Conan pushed him out of the door and slammed it behind him. He rested up against the door. "He's not going to have a problem keeping his identity. He's like a little kid by himself!"

"I guess that's why the call him Kaito _Kid_," Hibara remarked.

* * *

><p>Kaito glanced back at the house and sighed. "This will be interesting," he thought. "I know that Kudo won't rat me out, he'd never do that. I know he knows how deep he is in this. But for me, it's a whole other story." He kicked a stone as he walked.<p>

"Mom knows what happened to Dad, and the whole organization situation. She also probably knows that I've found out about their 'jobs'. So if I tell her she would worry a little, but I think she'd be okay...and now that I have that detective I've just linked up with a whole bunch of other detectives and the police," he grinned craftily. "Better yet I can pull off epic heists without anyone suspecting a thing! But remember you don't steal for fun, you're looking for Pandora," he laughed to himself. "Inspector Nakamori as an ally? What a thought!

"This might be slightly fun, I could be so relaxed living as a little kid again, not having to worry about college or tests or anything...then again there's Aoko. I wonder...if she'd miss me? I certainly can't put her in danger with the organization, I guess I'd have to be like Kudo in that. But if push comes to shove I'll tell her the truth," Kaito nodded determinedly then stopped short of hitting a pole. "I need to pay more attention where I'm walking...then again, she's really very defenseless." He recalled all of the times he had to save Aoko and put himself in a life-threatening situation. "It's not like she has Karate or any other kind of skill besides being cute. Cute won't get you too far with the organization. No, no, I can't tell her. I have to promise myself never to, no matter how tempting!" he clenched his fist with resolve.

A teenager walked by and noticed Kaito with his fist clenched and thought it slightly strange. However the child was familiar so he greeted the boy. "Wow, I've never seen ya so fired up."

Kaito spun around and stared at the boy. Tall, dark skinned, dark and spiky hair, accent... Kaito beamed. "Oh, hey! How's it going, Hattori?"


	2. Conan vs Lupin: Round 2!

**Okay readers, thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for your comments! I never expected that but thank you! So now we'll what Kaito can come up with to bother Heiji and Conan. Kill two birds with one stone right? (Also I'll call Kaito, Kaito to avoid confusion...unless it makes you more confused...then I can't really help you.)**

"So Hattori, why are you here? Just to visit? That can't be right. You never show unless you need help or something."

"Why do ya always assume that Kudo? But I guess you're right. But fer real this time I came jus' cuz' I wanted ta drop by. Can't a friend do that?"

The small boy gave him a sharp look. "Okay, okay, I admit it. I came cuz' I had a bad feelin' y'all were in some kinda trouble."

"I'm fine though, you see?" Heiji shrugged as they walked back towards the detective agency.

"I guess it was an odd feelin' on my part. I s'pose I just really wanted ta come ta Tokyo. How's everythin' at the agency?"

"Annoyingly the same, Ojisan still gets all of the credit for the work I do, but I guess it can't be helped." Two climbed up the stairs. "Also, Kaito Kid is around pretty often now."

"Whadayamean?"

"Nevermind. I think Ran-neechan has some snacks," he reached up and grabbed the door knob. "I'm home!"

"Oh, good, Conan-kun's back. I just made some sandwiches and...oh! Hattori-kun! You're here too?" Ran leaned out of the kitchen. "I'll need to make some more. Make yourself at home."

Both plopped down on the couch and continued talking about recent cases. A moment later Ran came out with the sandwiches and stood behind the couch.

"Where's yer old man?" Heiji asked as he took a bite of a sandwich.

"I think he's out on an investigation."

"And you and this brat aren't with 'im? That's unusual."

"What case was he working on, Ran-neechan?"

"Another murder case, over on the other side of town."

The two detectives looked at one another. "Whadayathink? Should we go assist?"

"Hmm, maybe later..."

The door swung open behind them and a small boy with black hair and black rimmed glasses entered the room. "I'm home!" When he looked around he saw the rest of the group staring at him. "What? You look like you've seen a ghost."

His identical twin peered up over the back of the couch. The boy started. "Not you again."

"Conan-kun? Who's the real Conan-kun?" Ran looked very confused looking from boy to boy, Heiji did the same.

"They're identical! How...?" Heiji wondered.

"Ran-neechan I'm the real Conan!" said the one that just entered. "I was at Professor Agasa's house!"

"No, Ran-neechan! I'm Conan!" said the one on the couch. "I just came back with Heiji-niichan, remember? You know who I am right Niichan?"

"Uh, I can't..."

"Ran-neechan!" both boys said in unison.

Ran stood silent, thinking for a moment. What could she do to tell who was who? She generally had a Shinichi sense, but she didn't know if it worked with Conan or not. Suddenly Heiji grinned evilly. "I know a way you could figure it out," he said through a grin. Conan and Lupin tilted their heads in concern. "You could kiss both of them and see which one blushes worse. The one that does is Conan-kun!" Both boys started, but only the real Conan blushed. Heiji pointed a finger at him. "That's the kid yer lookin' fer!" He turned to the other child. "But if yer Conan, who's this other kid?"

"H-he's my brother! My twin brother, right Lupin-kun?" Conan intercepted, glancing at Ran and Heiji and giving Kaito a hard 'you-better-not-argue' look. Kaito grinned and nodded his head quickly.

"Conan-kun, I didn't know you had a brother! Where was he all this time?" Ran asked.

It was a perfectly normal question but it caught him way off guard, this time Kaito intercepted and saved Conan. "Well I was with Mom and Dad over in America, you know? Conan-kun didn't have any interest in going over there so I went with them. But now they're really busy so they dropped me off at our aunt's house. Unfortunately our aunt is out frequently so I mostly live by myself..."

"Oh! You poor thing! Living by yourself when you're this young! Do you want to stay with us and Conan-kun? I'm sure Dad won't mind, it'd be good for him to get out of the Agency and play with you two! And if Professor Agasa knows and can tell your parents, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you living with us..."

"WAIT! Wait, Ran-neechan! H-he can't live with us, because Auntie would miss him too much! She's so lonely, right Lupin-kun? That's why they dropped him off over there instead of Professor Agasa's house, right? Plus if you think I'm a handful, wait until you see me doubled, you know? Lupin-kun's much worse than I am! He does all kinds of dangerous stunts; he would just case more trouble for you guys..." With each 'right' he glared at Kaito threateningly.

Kaito didn't heed the warning as he just gave a sweet smile and said, "Oh, Ran-neechan, you're just as nice as Conan-kun says you are! I would love to stay with you guys...!"

"No you wouldn't!" Conan argued.

"Yes, I would!"

At this point Conan was fuming mad, however he forced a smile. "Well, no matter. Lupin-kun! I have a soccer ball, would you like to play _soccer_?"

Kaito's eyes widened as he realized that Conan wasn't just meaning a regular soccer ball, he quickly shook his head.

"Aw, come on!" Heiji added helpfully. "I wanna see ya play! I'm sure yer better than I am, being this kid's brother n' all!" Heiji could definitely see that Conan really didn't want this imposer here at all, whoever he was. For a teenager he was acting very childish, but he couldn't think of why. Heiji decided to figure out what in the world was going on.

"Then I'll go too..." Ran said turning to get a jacket.

"No, no! it's best fer just us ta go, ya know, manly bonding and all..." Heiji adjusted his hat. "C'mon yous two let's go fer some manly bonding time, shake hands an' make up!" He pushed the two out of the room then waved goodbye to Ran.

…

"Okay, what in the world is going on?" Heiji asked as they began walking down the street.

"Hattori, meet Kaito Kid, kid."

Heiji stared in wonder at the child with identical looks to the shrunken detective.

"Yer jokin' right?"

"Do you think I'd joke about this?"

"So yer arch nemesis is shrunken, jus' like ya, huh?"

"Yep."

"You know, I think it's kind of mean that you guys are calling me a villain to my face and I haven't gotten a word in edge wise..." Kaito whined.

"Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've met ya face ta face isn't it?" Heiji pondered for a moment then crouched down and rubbed Kaito's hair. "Hey, kid, Heiji Hattori if ya didn't already know!"

"I gathered that."

"An' lemme guess, you have a girl ya like too. But yer gonna keep this a secret from 'er too right? 'Cause ya don't wanna get 'er inta trouble? Geez, keeping all these identities, it's just confusin'! Watch tomorra someone else is gonna come up ta me an' say, 'Heiji I'm actually part of some so-an'-so organization an' I need ya to keep my identity a secret!'"

Kaito and Conan looked at each other with puzzled looks. Heiji shook his head. "So what's the plan this time around? Is Kid really gonna live with ya? Wouldn't that ruin your renown as a detective?"

"I was thinking the same thing. Plus with as many stunts as this guy pulls..." (Conan specifically remembered the airship heist where Kid disguised himself as Shinichi. After the occurrence on the sky deck, he put two and two together and swore to never forgive Kaito Kid for his almost kiss with Ran.) Conan frowned. "Yeah, I'll make it a point that that never happens."

Now it was time for Kaito and Heiji to exchange a confused look.

"Well I don't know what you guys are so worried about. I told you I could live by myself and I plan to come to school like a normal first or second grader. I don't even care what grade I'm in…I'll just show up and do my work and leave."

"It's a lot more than that you know," Conan told him. "You have to keep your identity hidden, and trust me it's a lot harder than it looks."

"I'm no idiot, Kudo. You're dealing with_ the_ Kaito Kid! I can do anything!"

The three reached the park as Kaito said this. Conan did bring along his normal soccer ball and he dribbled it around to show off to Heiji and Kaito. Heiji made a comment that soccer was only a good defense mechanism if you had something to kick, this instantly made Conan defensive. He told off Heiji saying that he could defend himself even without soccer skills, by using his wit. Kaito had to incorporate himself somehow so he added that he didn't even need to fight, he could just use his magic tricks to sneak away, unless, of course, someone like Conan came around and caught him. Then the argument began that offensive maneuvers are better than defensive. But we'll leave that scene and move to a different one…because even as one girl longs for her detective-nerd so another will be missing her magician. Unlike the detective, though, the magician has no other to cover for him therefore, to her, the magician has just…disappeared.

…

Aoko walked home alone for the third time in a row. "Wow, Kaito sure must be sick. He usually comes even if he is! Maybe Aoko should go visit him…" She stopped and shook her head. "That's stupid! And it would look weird for me to go over there…Then again he does live alone, so maybe someone should check on him. That's it! Aoko will ask her friends to come with her!" She pulled out her phone and texted each of her friends, but from each was a reply that said 'Sorry! I can't! You go visit him and tell him I said hi!' Aoko sighed and clicked her phone shut. She went to a store and bought some ramen to take to Kaito then headed towards his house.

She walked up to the front door and knocked. No answer. She knocked some more, a little louder, and finally an answer came. The door opened and she looked to see not a teenager, but a child of about seven open the door. Her eyes widened. He was identical to Kaito when he was little. The child dropped the toast that was in his mouth and quickly shut the door. Aoko tried to catch it, but didn't even need to bother because he opened it two seconds later wearing a baseball cap that covered his eyes."Yo."

"Um, is Kaito…here?"

"Yeah, and by 'yeah' I mean no."

"What?"

"It's Japanese. You're speaking it."

Ako didn't understand at all. Instead she got on her knees and took off the boy's hat off.

"You look…"

"…really familiar? I get that a lot, but I'm sure I don't know who you are. Are you Kaito's girlfriend?"

"N-no! of course not! Why would you ask that?"

"Eh, just because. Can you give me my hat back? I'll burn you if you look at me without it too long."

Aoko was so confused her head hurt. "I heard Kaito was sick…I came to bring him some ramen…but are you here alone?"

"Yep. But don't worry about me. Kaito should come back late tonight, and I'm really responsible! And I'll just take that ramen for him. Well, it was nice meeting you, see you later!" he tried closing the door on her, but this time she caught it.

"You still shouldn't be here by yourself. And how does Kaito know you? He's never mentioned a brother."

"I'm Kaito's…uh…cousin's, mother's, grandmother's, brother's, sister's nephew."

"Well as Kaito's cousin's, mother's, grandmother's, brother's, sister's nephew –whatever that may be- and as a friend of Kaito's, Aoko will look after you until Kaito returns."

The boy turned a little pale. "No! I'm fine, Kaito will come back soon so there's no need to…"

"Then Aoko will hand-deliver this ramen to him. Sheesh, that boy, wandering around when he's sick…typical." Aoko pushed open the door and let herself in despite the boy's protests. Then she stopped and turned. "By the way what's your name?"

"My name is Kitsune Lupin," the boy sighed as he closed the door behind her.

"What an odd name for such a cute boy. You don't look like a Lupin, you look like a Kaito!" he ignored her and wandered into the kitchen and grabbed another piece of bread. "This place is unusually clean for two boys," she noted.

"Well what did you expect? I am my mother's son!" he muttered through the piece of bread he held in his mouth. "Ah! No, I mean Kaito-niisan's mother forces us to keep it clean!" He let out a childish laugh.

She let the comment slide. "So when will Kaito be back?" Aoko asked as she looked around the apartment.

"Not for a while yet."

"But just a moment ago you said he'd be back soon!"

"Well you never know with him. I'll call him and find out…" Lupin wandered off and Aoko was left alone. Suddenly her phone rang. She pulled it out of her purse and saw that it was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Aoko! Where are ya! You should be home by now!"

"Dad? Why do you have an Osakan accent?"

"That's not the point! Get home now!"

"Right, and cut the cheesy accent please…"

"It's not cheesy!..I mean, just get home!"

Aoko hung up then stood and straightened her skirt. Lupin walked in and looked at her. "Are you leaving? I was thinking we could play a game until Kaito gets back, but I guess we'll have to do it later then."

"Sorry, Dad just called with this really corny accent saying that I should get home. I guess I'll see you later then, Lupin." He nodded and smiled then waved goodbye as she left.

As she ran home she still pondered why Kaito was gone. "Was he just ditching school? No, that's not something Kaito would do…well he can't be sick if he's going about doing things…what's he up to?"

When she came into her house she found her dad ranting a raving once again over some topic. "What's wrong Dad?" she asked as she put her things away.

"It's ridiculous! That thief Kaito Kid has sent another notice saying that he's going to steal the Heian period Akikusamon bottle! The nerve of that thief!"

Aoko paused and life seemed to stand still for a moment. "What if…Kaito is…Kaito Kid? And that's why he's gone. He's on the run from the authorities…if he's Kaito…THAT JERK'S GOING TO PAY!"

**And let's out breath…it's complete. This chapter is finally complete…there was a few moments where I wanted a character to break the fourth wall, but Heiji kinda broke the first wall…no matter, I'll just leave it in the form as it is now. Also, the whole 'manly' thing is a reference to a story my friend, Zana Charleston, is writing. It's the first anime-western I've seen…P.S. Sorry this is so long, but thanks for reading anyway! P.P.S. The Akikusamon bottle is real, just in case you didn't know…it's just kind of a bottle that looks like a vase…with grass drawn on it…for more info. look it up…P.P.P.S. Kaito won't be allowed to steal Heiji's hat thing...I'll figure something else out next chapter! (sorry!)**

**Until next chapter!**


	3. Conan vs Lupin Round 3!

**Okay, okay. (Again thank you for the comments!) Let's see. How's Kaito gonna pull this off...? It'll be a trick but he might need some help...oh! Well! Quit rambling and let's get started! (shaking with excitement)**

"Yer insane! Ya think ya can pull off a heist as a kid? Kudo! Tell him he's crazy!"

"He's crazy."

"Yer an idiot! It a...I can't...there's no way. I mean, we bailed ya out of that situation with Aoko-chan now you want us ta help ya with this?"

"I never asked for your help," Kaito replied calmly. "I wanted to have you as back-up in case something goes wrong. Which, even if it does, I usually have a back-up plan in mind. So you guys wouldn't have to do anything. Except for maybe Kudo over here. He'd have to show up as usual, but just give me enough time to get things sorted out."

"Kudo! This could ruin yer rep. and ya say nothin'?" Heiji looked exasperatedly over at the other small boy who was sitting quietly on the couch.

He sighed. "Look, Kuroba, I understand your situation with catching those guys who killed your father, but stealing isn't the best way to do it. By researching and..."

"And waiting? I understand that's where you come from, but you aren't in as deep as I am. I lost my dad to them and this is the only way I can get them to stop: by finding Pandora. And it's going to be harder than just researching to find it. I have to be actively looking for it and bringing the cops into the situation to deter them!"

Conan turned and headed for the door. "I won't deter you immediately, but if Ojisan or I are asked for, I will try my hardest to catch you. If you are caught, you are on your own. See you later." Conan waved his hand in dismissal and left the professor's house.

The room was silent after Conan left. Kaito looked at the floor, deep in thought and Heiji just stood staring after the other detective. The stillness was only broken as Dr. Agasa walked into the room beaming as he held his newest handiwork. It was a stuffed dove, made especially with Kaito in mind, that held many of the same abilities as the gadgets Conan used all wrapped up in a cute, cuddly stuffed animal.

"This is what you wanted, correct?"

"This is better than I expected!" Kaito exclaimed, breaking his mournful demeanor. He shifted the toy around in his hands. "How does it work and what all does it do?"

"Well, if you look, under the wing is a button. If you push that button the wing comes loose and can stretch for 30 meters and hold up to 115 kilograms; similar to Shinichi's suspenders. If you push the button behind the head it sprays a sleeping gas that lasts for 30 minutes. If you peel up this patch," Agasa pulled up the fur on the back of the bird. "you can program it to change your voice. I'm assuming you will need this because your voice isn't deep enough to mimic that of others."

"So does it enhance my feet or shoot a soccer ball, or even provide me with a katana or something?"

Agasa laughed. "No. I decided that you have your magic tricks, so you're pretty good of getting our of sticky situations. Right?"

_But I really would have loved to get back at Kudo... _"Okay. This is great Dr. Agasa! Can I test it?"

"Oh, sure. Also, so you don't knock anyone out or randomly push a button that does something, there an off switch in it's mouth. Hit that and it's a perfectly normal toy."

Kaito nodded and took the bird back from Agasa and proceeded to push the button under the wing. He handed the bird to Heiji with a curt "hold this" then stretched it across the room. At Kaito's end there was also a button. Kaito, being as fun-loving and curious as he is, decided to push the button which resulted in an exceedingly irritated Heiji being drug across the room.

"Ya little brat," Heiji scolded as he stood, later giving Kaito a hard noogie. "Yer so irritatin' I'm surprised any person, let alone a girl, would like ya."

Kaito flattened his hair. "Well, I'm sure that if Kudo is popular with the girls, I'm certain I can be."

"By the way, are ya plannin' on usin' the bird ta hide yer identity?"

"Yeah, jealous?" Heiji rolled his eyes. "I was not the stuffed animal loving kid when I was little. I preferred cards and stuff to do magic tricks with. No one will be the wiser to my identity, especially Aoko," Kaito squeezed the toy and it squeaked. His eyes widened in delight. "You mean to say...it _squeaks_?"

Dr. Agasa grinned and nodded; Heiji slapped his hand to his face. Just then, Hibara walked past with her backpack over her shoulders stopping only briefly at the door to open it and say "Kuroba-kun, You're going to be late."

Kaito exchanged at look with Heiji. "Did I ever tell her my last name?"

…

**(Insert un-Detective Conan-like montage for classes)**

…

That evening newspaper headlines and news channels flashed Kaito's latest challenge:

"Tonight when the moon stands straight up in the sky,

I will arrive with the summer bound geese

and will steal the autumn grass bottle"

Conan glanced over Mori's shoulder (as best as he could) and saw the message and the headlines. _Wow, can he think of no better riddles?_ It mentioned him as a source to attempt to catch the clever thief but if no one asked he wouldn't even attempt to ask his way in.

"Conan-kun, do you think we should go down there?" Ran asked as she also read over Mori's shoulder.

"Why would this brat go down there?" Mori grumbled.

"They say he's th' only match for that thief," Heiji added from across the couch. "I'm sure I could do jist as well ta catch 'em. Being that he's a kid n' all." Conan gave a sharp look at Heiji then continued reading.

"What do you mean by that?" Ran continued. "Conan-kun said that he's around his twenties. I wouldn't consider that being a kid anymore."

Heiji started then gave a nervous laugh. "I...I mean he acts like a kid so he'd be easy fer me ta catch." Ran still pondered his word choice when the phone rang. Mori went to the phone and pulled it off the receiver then gave the usual line.

"Mori detective agency, this is Mori, how can I help you?"

"Ah! Detective Mori! I was just wondering if you could investigate a case for me, that is, if you're not working on catching Kaito Kid."

"I'm not, I'll take your case...oh, hold on just one second..." Mori whipped around and shouted "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" in Heiji's face.

Heiji rubbed his ear then said: "Hey, how about you go and do the Kid investigation and let me handle this case?"

Mori looked at him in an off manner. "Why? I haven't been asked to help with Kid yet."

"Well, y'all will get more publicity if you work on the Kid case...and who knows, maybe even Yoko-chan will be watchin' ya on TV..." Mori liked the idea of having Yoko watch him on TV so he told his customer that he'd send his apprentice on the case. Heiji grinned then looked over at Conan who seemed deep in thought. Mori got the information and found that the house was within walking distance from the agency. Heiji and Conan left immediately and started towards the house.

"Not that I have a problem with doin' a case but, why didn't ya jump at the chance to catch Kid?" Heiji asked on their way over.

Conan shrugged. "I'd already known he was going to do something like this, and if he can get information on the Black Organization by doing this, I won't try too hard to deter him. He does return what he steals anyway. If I know him, he won't even try to steal it tonight. He will act like he's been deterred by the police and will give up after doing a magic show."

"I guess yer right. But if the Black Organization's as violent as ya say I'm surprised Kid hasn't gotten himself mussed up yet."

"He's pretty sly, and he's good at slithering out of situations. I have to say, he's almost as good as Vermouth."

"Vermouth? Have ya told me about 'er yet?"

"Yeah, it was a while ago but basically she's a master of disguise."

"Then how do we know Kaito isn't Vermouth in disguise?"

Conan stopped and looked at him. "Really, Hattori? There's no way she's Kuroba, trust me."

Heiji laughed. "Sure yer right." The two stood in front of an average looking house with a garden. "Now let's see about that case!"

…**...**

**Here's a fact that my sister and I stumbled upon. The reason Kaito is scared of fish is because of a certain type of fish. Cod. Think about it...C. O. D... Cause of Death...anyway, maybe not very funny by we though tit was funny. Anywho, thanks for readin'! **


	4. Heist 1!

**Gah! I like this story but I have others...!O_o Anywho... I'll try to write this as best as I can. I'm not really in a Kaito heist mood but we'll see how this goes...**

Kaito glanced over his paper once more and breathed in deeply. He felt as if he were about to preform on stage. However on this stage, he knew, he must never be seen. He glanced up and saw quick flash from a light far off in the distance. "Okay. Let's do this." He attached his hearing piece to his ear the unfolded his glider. It was very large for him but he had practiced earlier and had learned to adapt. He clipped his bird to his shoulder then took off. Gliding stealthily over to the building, he landed silently on the roof. Thanks to his small stature he ran across the roof without detection and easily picked open the door. He slipped down the stairs, for once glad of his small easy-to-carry-self, he peered around the corner. No guards. Just to be careful though, he used his dove to pull himself up into a vent. He crawled on his stomach through the path while recalling his mental map. Three stories down was the exhibit where the pot was located. Though his mission wasn't actually to steal it, he decided he'd make his best attempt at it.

Finding his exit he listened to the police officer's conversation. It seemed the crazed Inspector hadn't shown yet...that or he was being quiet. Too quiet. He checked the room and propelled down the wall again. An elevator. He thought about it for a second then decided to use the stairs but as he headed that direction he heard two officers on their way up. He pulled himself up into a ceiling tile and listened.

"Inspector Nakamori has devised a new plan that's flawless. Or so he says," said one officer to the other. "If he doesn't talk over the radio Kid won't know where he is...that's the hypothesis. And apparently the vase in the exhibit is not real. He's hiding with the real one somewhere else in the building."

"Do you know where?" asked the other officer.

"Nah. Not even his best officers know."

_That hack inspector...why does he make this so difficult? _Kaito let out a soft grumble after the officers left then slid down from his place. He pressed the elevator button then hid in the stairway. The door opened with no one inside. He decided to risk going in to the elevator and pressed the basement button. _At lease I know what I can do if he's alone. _The doors opened into a dark room. He checked the surroundings then walked out and looked around. He checked behind boxes and various tools. He looked behind a particularly large box and he heard a shuffling noise. _What? _As he turned four men in uniform jumped out and tackled him. He quickly dropped one of his flash bombs and disappeared into the smoke. _That was way too close. They could probably see how tall I was and now they'll report it to the others! I have to move fast! _

He darted around a corner and almost ran into another officer. _Drat! _He slipped between his legs and found a vent. He crawled up into it and closed it as best as he could behind him. Kaito shuffled his way through then found himself back at the elevator he came out of. Relieved, he jumped down and pushed the button for the door. When the door opened about twenty officers were packed in there. _How didn't I hear them?_ He dodged each of them then dove into the elevator just as it closed. He rode up to the second floor and hid behind a bush as soon as he got out of the elevator. He needed to test his theory and turned on his head set so he could speak into it. He adjusted his bird then spoke. "Nakamori here! Where are you all? Aren't you all supposed to be guarding me on the third floor?"

"S-sorry sir! We'll be right there!" shouted a man back. Kaito then waited and listened. He sneaked out of his hiding place and pressed the elevator button and when it arrived on his floor no one was there. _This can't be good. _He had the sneaking suspicion that the police had re-wired their radios. And now they had possibly traced his signal to where he was currently hiding. Just as he realized this he heard a large crowd of footsteps running up the hallway. He abandoned the set and dropped and another flash bomb to hide his escape. He ran around the corner only to run in to more officers. He threw another bomb while hearing Nakamori's voice scream over the radio "CATCH HIM!" then Kaito disappeared leaving a ceiling tile open. The men looked around frantically when Nakamori continued to yell: "THE WALLS! HE HIDES ALONG THE WALLS!"

During the panic Kaito had managed to squirm through the group without being seen. He ran down the hall in a blue uniform as if he were his teenage version again. He ran up the stairs then turned sharply when he saw the restroom. _Here! _Kaito slithered into the bathroom and looked at the bottom the stalls. _Feet! _"Not too cleaver, are you Inspector Nakamori?" the thief said throught his voice-changer.

Kaito heard a slight gasp. "KAITO KID YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" he yelled as he burst out of the stall he was hiding in. Nakamori nearly ran the little thief over as he barged out expecting to see a teenager.

"G'night inspector!" Kaito pulled out his bird and sprayed his face as the inspector bent over.

"Nighty-night...Kiddo..." Nakamori landed with a thud on the ground happily snoozing away.

Kaito walked pasted the man and grabbed the vase from the stall. He looked it over and nodded. He walked out of the door and down the stairs to the second floor then moseyed his way into the the large showcasing room. Upon seeing the empty glass box which housed the prized antique he slipped it back inside without triggering the alarm and tucked the fake one under his arm. "Haha, easy as pie!" He then called everyone to the showcase room using Nakamori's voice. The men barged into the room and saw a shadow but no Kid.

"Sorry you couldn't see me tonight, sirs. I hope you would forgive my rudeness. My favorite inspector is taking a nice nap on a cold surface...you might want to get him before he catches a cold. And here's your vase..." out of the opposite direction came the vase that shattered upon impact with the floor. The men gasped in terror at the shattered remains. In all reality, Kaito didn't find it necessary to scare the men but he just really wanted to break something (he had for a while now). He shot a card from his gun through the window and jumped out with his hang glider.

One of the men ran over to the case and saw Kaito's card: "Thanks for the test-run! Here is your vase, all in-tact. I'll now return to precious stones...Kaito Kid" and then his signature mark. He breathed a sigh of relief and told the others the vase was alright. They all laughed it off then headed back to their shifts, forgetting the snoozing Inspector Nakamori in the bathroom.

He was found the next day by the janitor.

**Whew, now that's off my chest let's see some other variations and figure out if anybody will like them! **

**030 WOOOOH!**


	5. O Fortunate Kaito!

**Sorry It's been so long guys! It's been a VERY busy summer! Contrariwise, that last chapter, I know, was nothing to sneeze at. But, I think this chapter will be better. Thanks for reading still!**

Kaito had to be the luckiest kid around, you know, besides Conan. He had the privilege of stumbling upon a murder. Better yet, he even saw the murderer's face! Yes, in short, Kaito was kidnapped, o lucky kid that he is, and all he could do was squeak a "Help!" into his detective badge before he was nabbed and dropped the communicator. But his startled cry did not fall on def ears.

It was the next morning when Hibara joined Conan and the other kids as they walked to school. Hibara looked slightly concerned, which in turn, concerned Conan. "What's up, Hibara?"

"I received a weird call on the communicator last night. It sounded like Kuroba-kun, but I couldn't tell because it was muffled."

"You know him, he's such a prankster," Conan said shrugging the comment off.

"He usually joins us when we walk to school but, I still haven't seen him though."

"He could just have a cold."

"Lupin-kun has a cold?" Ayumi instantly turned around.

"Maybe," Mitsuhiko added. "I haven't seen him today."

"Hmm, he has seemed kind of tired recently," Ayumi concurred.

_That's because he did a heist recently…_Conan thought.

"I know, why don't we visit him!"

"That seems like a good idea," Hibara agreed. Conan was slightly surprised at this, but still agreed.

So after their day at school they collected Kaito's work and found their way to his house. Much to their surprise, Kaito's mother was there. Conan knew this would be a bit of a tricky situation, so he maintained the conversation.

"Good afternoon, aunt. Does Lupin here?"

"Lupin?" Chikage echoed. She shook her head.

Conan was half confused as to whether or not she actually knew who "Lupin" was. She seemed to notice this and said, "You know, I got back late last night from a trip, Conan-kun." She gave a slight wink. "But the thing is, I haven't seen him since I got home! I thought he was staying with you but apparently not. Now I'm a little concerned myself."

Conan heard a quiet, "I knew it," from behind him in Hibara's soft voice.

"Well," Conan replied. "We'll find him."

"Yeah! We're the detective boys and none of us get left behind!" the three others kids cheered.

Chikage smiled. "I'll leave that little troublemaker to you then. Good luck!" the kids made their way back to the sidewalk then began discussing ideas.

"Where do you think he is?" Ayumi asked.

"He might have gone to catch fireflies like Mitsuhiko did once," Genta offered. "We got all worried for nothing over you."

"Sorry for making you worry."

"I think it was a thoughtful reason!" Ayumi added in Mitsuhiko's favor. She suddenly recalled one of Conan's gadgets. "Conan-kun! Why don't you use your glasses to track his badge?" Ayumi suggested turning around to face him.

"Good idea!" Genta agreed.

"I hadn't even thought of that." Conan clicked on his glasses and found the badge's location. "Got it, let's go!" the group followed Conan a few blocks down then turned into the alleyway only to find that there were police cars and the media surrounding and filling it.

Conan began formulation a theory about what happened. Then Takagi walked out with a bag containing the missing detective badge, Conan was on it.

"Hey! Officer Takagi," Conan said in his sweetest voice. "what happened here?"

"Oh, Conan-kun! It seems there was a murder here last night. A manager for a furniture company, I think." Conan looked eagerly at the detective badge. "This?" Takagi held up the trinket. "It looks like one of your detective badges, but all of you have yours, right?"

"Yes, but it could be our friend, Lupin's. He has one too. Have you seen him?"

"I haven't seen any kids your age recently, besides you."

"I see," Conan came up with an plan and turned to the others. "I have an idea. You guys look for any other clues of Lupin or places he might be and I'll stay and help with this case."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Genta scolded.

"Yeah, we've helped solve murder cases before!" Mitsuhiko cried.

Conan grumbled to himself, he was hoping he could convince the kids to scurry off while he summed up the case and found clues to Kaito's disappearance. He looked thoughtful then Takagi interrupted his thoughts. "Do you think that your friend saw the murderer?" he asked in a disquieted manner. Conan started. This was part of his theory but it turned out to look like a reality in this situation.

"Officer Takagi, do you mind if I look at the crime scene?"

"Well, you really shouldn't…"

"Are there pictures?"

"Yeah, these," he pulled them out of the breast pocket of his jacket and handed them to Conan. The boy sorted through them quickly.

"Officer Takagi, there's a high probability our friend's been kidnapped and you murderer is holding him hostage," he told the man in a carefree tone as he continued to examine one of the pictures.

"What? Are you serious? Is there anyway to find him?"

Conan pulled out one of the pictures and showed it to the officer. "It looks like the culprit stepped in some blood as he left so there should be a shoe print in the direction he ran…let's see…" he, followed by the rest of the detective boys and Takagi wandered around until he discovered the mark. "So he ran straight ahead, that's a clue. But after that…" Takagi's phone rang a moment later. He pulled it out and talked for a minute then made a loud exclamation.

"What? You got a call from the kidnapper requesting an exchange? Do we know who he is yet?" Takagi paused and listen intently. "You mean it was a random call from some woman about her son? Do you know his name? Lupin-kun?"

"That's him!" Ayumi exclaimed. "Is he okay?"

Takagi finished his call with a "Roger that!" then turned to the kids. "It seems the guy called Lupin-kun's mother using his cell phone and told her that he wanted 20 million yen and not to call the police if she wanted to see her son again. She called the police anyway and said she's used to this kind of this happening in her family."

_Hey now_ Conan thought, _Even my mom and dad would be alarmed. _

Takagi continued. "She also said that the exchange place was the old fishing store down two block from here. So more than likely the guy will be hiding Lupin-kun there."

_No, this guy would let his hiding place be that obvious. He just committed a murder and a kidnapping. Which is why I'm concerned that he's not afraid to kill Kuroba if something goes wrong. What's more, he didn't mention that he wanted to be free of arrest, but I guess that would give it away that he was the murderer. So right now, these two cases don't even look related. Takagi can clear that up easily, let's just go get Kuroba out of there. _Conan sprung into action, running down the street toward the fishing store he remembered, the surprised group in his wake. He stopped in front of the store and caught his breath. "Let's check inside quickly, but I'm almost certain he's not in there."

"What do you say that?" Takagi asked.

"Think about it, this guy just murdered someone, probably his boss." Conan's mind suddenly switched gears, "Was there any report of the victim having any enemies?"

"Well, he was generally pretty well-like except by his employees. They said he was a very hard man to appease, even those with years of experience who did the finest work, he rejected their projects saying that they were 'too stiff' or 'out-of-date.'"

"Then it is most likely one of his employees. You might want to call in and see if anybody's 'out sick', then confirm if they are or not."

Takagi dialed the number he received from the case report and proceeded to call the company.

* * *

><p>When Kaito woke up (he had been stun-gunned twice because he woke up too soon) he was very sore and found himself in a dark closet. He even wondered if he had really opened his eyes it was that dark in the small space he was confined in. He moved his hands and feet. Fairly loose knots, nothing a little knife couldn't cut; he rolled onto his side to see if the culprit had taken his knife…still there, he discovered. He managed to move it out of his pocket and into his hand, he made quick work of the ropes and found that the closet he was in was unfortunately locked from the outside. But from outside of the closet he could hear a power tool going. It was a far away sound but he began to knock on the door as loudly as he could and shouted "Hello? Helloooooooo? Anyone?" he heard a drill stop and he shouted all the louder. He heard a person approach,<em> an employee that came to finish a project,<em> Kaito supposed. and unlock the door. The person on the other side was very surprised to find him there as he tumbled out.

"W-what are you doing in there, little boy?" the man asked.

"I could ask the same thing!" he said. "Do you know where I am?"

"This is the Akane Wood and Furniture shop. This place is dangers for kids your age, how did you get here?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kaito replied crossing his arms.

The man looked even more confused. "Try me."

"Well, I happened to witness a murder on the way home from school and was therefore stun-gunned and kidnapped. I suppose the person who kidnapped me tied me up and put me in there."

"Should I call the police then?" the man asked.

"I'm sure they're already on it. Also I'm sure my friends are looking feverishly for me, ready to apprehend that villain too."

"Are you sure your friends are going to catch the criminal?"

Kaito laughed. "If that 'great detective's' got anything to do with it, you better believe it. He'll come tearing into the place where the criminal is and will get his soccer ball and super kick shoes and kick the ball right into the guy's gut. Then sit on him until he confesses then he'll have him arrested, I'll be rescued and then I can have a sandwich when I get home. I guess the sitting on him is an over-exaggeration… man I really want a sandwich right now."

"I have one in my lunch in you want it…"

"What kind is it?"

"Tuna."

"No thanks." Kaito stood. "Huh, my bag's gone. I guess I should go get it. Nice talking to you, Sir." The man nodded in a bewildered way then watched as the little boy wandered off upstairs.

Kaito knew the kidnapper/murderer would probably still be in the building so he carefully snuck around the corner. He looked across the room, no one. He slipped inside and looked around; he found his bag near a desk, but a noise from behind startled him and saw his kidnapper appeared once again.

"I'm surprised kid, you're a tough one, this'll take care of you for a while…" the man pulled out a cloth and grabbed Kaito's shirt before he could run.

"I-I'm sure we could come to some sort of compromise…" Kaito stuttered, trying feebly to pull away.

"This isn't going to hurt kid, and if you fight me I'll do something that will!"

"Okay…" Kaito suddenly pulled out his dove and sprayed the man in the face, in an instant the man was out cold. "I didn't fight back…"

"No worries kid," said another voice. "I don't mind if you even try to fight back! It won't even matter!" Kaito turned and ran into another man who took the fallen cloth and forced it over Kaito's mouth.

"Not…again…" Kaito passed out into his arms where he was bound once again and put back into the closet.

* * *

><p>Conan and the rest of the group stepped up to the counter of the store and rang of assistance. A young man came up and greeted them.<p>

"I would like to purchase a bench from you," Takagi said stiffly.

"Well, we have a wide variety of benches, would you like to look at them?"

"Yes."

"Right this way, Sir."

Takagi looked at Conan, the boy nodded and the officer followed the man. Conan then turned to the others. "Right, everyone spread out, Officer Takagi is going to give us as much time as possible. Check everywhere you think you could ever hide!"

"Detective boys go!" the kids screeched as they ran off in pairs, Mitsuhiko with Hibara and Genta with Ayumi, Conan also ran off but down the stairs and into the workshop. He found a closet but it was locked. He ran into the workshop to see if anyone was there, a young man was in there sleeping. Conan walked over and shook him. The man grumbled then sighed. _It'd be better not to wake him, he might be the kidnapper. _Conan silently took the man keys and headed to the closet.

First he knocked and waited. He decided it was possible that Kaito had been drugged and was asleep so he tried the first key. No. Second. No. Third? Nope. He fitted the correct key into the lock, oblivious to the shadow that lurked behind him. Suddenly he felt cold hands wrap around his mouth, stifling his yelp. "You kids are everywhere!" hissed a voice in his ear. "No matter, I'll take care of you…" from the corner of his eye he saw a cloth. _Drat! _Conan did the only thing he knew to do in this situation. He bit the person's finger, who immediately dropped him with a curse. Conan opened the door and found Kaito sleeping like a baby with a bit of drool on his shirt. _I can't get him out in this situation…_Conan bolted for the stairs. The man ran to intercept him but he slipped between his legs and dashed up the stairs. He pulled his communicator out and signaled the others only to be caught by the collar of his shirt and yanked back down. The man pulled out the cloth again as he held Conan's head in a head-lock. Conan struggled to pull away but the man's grip was too strong. By the time the detective boys had arrived Conan was passed out on the stairs.

Ayumi ran to him, thinking that Conan was dead but Hibara told her he was sleeping. The group spotted the man closing the door of the closet to which Ayumi yelled at him to stop. The startled man did for a moment, long enough to have the children come rushing upon him, tackle him, and have Genta sit on him. Kaito was pulled out of the closet with his bag; Hibara took his dove and sprayed the other man in the face with the sleeping spray then they called Takagi down. He almost tripped over Conan on the way down, but picked up Conan then found the rest of the kids surrounding Kaito.

"Wow," Takagi exclaimed as he approached. "These two look almost identical!" he set Conan next to Kaito, both propped up against the wall. "It's good, anyway, that no one was hurt during this. I'll call Sato-san and the others and they can come pick him up."

"I think there's another in the shop," Hibara commented. "He's asleep on the bench."

With that the kidnapper/murderer and his assistant were apprehended. Kaito and Conan were put in Takagi's car while the rest of them testified to the kidnaping and other such things.

Kaito woke up first and saw Conan sleeping in the seat next to him. He laughed quietly to himself as he pulled out a permanent marker using his magic then proceeded to draw on the little detective's face. Then he went inside and greeted the others and when Conan woke up and saw himself in the mirror, he was more than a little angry.

**There we go! I'm really no good with endings so, comments, questions, concerns, suggestions are all welcome! **

**PS...GAH I CAN"T BELIEVE WHO BOURBON IS! :C actually I don't really care or know too much about him but I know that he is good at blending in...**


	6. Aoko's Discussion

**I don't think I should try writing serious cases anymore, I'm not very good at making up cases. Contrariwise, here is a bit of Aoko's point of view...**

Kaito had now been gone for a week. No texts, e-mails, calls...nothing. Aoko was worried. Where had Kaito gone? What happened? Who was Lupin-kun? These questions bombarded her mind every time she thought about Kaito (which was quite often, considering the circumstance). She decided to drop by Kaito's house once again to see if he was home. And to her surprise she found his mother instead.

"Good morning, Aoko-chan. You're a little late for school," Chikage greeted with her usual warm smile.

"Aoko called in sick this morning," she replied with an embarrassed look.

Chikage mused for a moment then said, "I'm sure you're worried about Kaito." She pushed the door open to let Aoko in. "Tea or juice?"

Aoko smiled gratefully and asked for juice. Chikage made herself some tea and brought out the juice for Aoko. She leaned back on the couch while Aoko sat hunched over in a nervous position. The two sat quietly, Chikage sipping her tea while Aoko got her thoughts straight. Aoko looked over at Kaito's mother. "Chikage-san," she began. "Do you know where Kaito is?"

The other almost choked on her tea..._such a direct question! _She sat up and gave a short smile. "Kaito is..."

"It doesn't make sense for him to just vanish like this!" Aoko interrupted. "And then Lupin-kun shows up! Do you know who he is?" Aoko's look drilled straight into Chikage's. All of these questions were catching her off guard.

"Uh..."she tried to begin. Aoko continued to rave, ignoring all of what she was trying to say. Chikage rose her voice and said in a strict tone, "Aoko. Listen to me."Aoko stopped, fat tears still rolling down her face. Chikage noticed and softened her expression. "Aoko-chan," she continued. "You don't need to worry about Kaito."

"Why not?"

"He's in good hands right now; he's with a family I trust with all of my heart."

"Where? Who?"

Chikage saw the sickening look of worry on the young girl's face. The look of a love sick girl. _Pitiful... _Sighing, Chikage told the girl: "He's in America, learning how to preform magic tricks on a full scale. He's not coming back for a while and he's enrolled in school over there. He's staying with a friend of his father's."

Aoko's posture tensed on hearing that Kaito was in America. It was so far away from everything in his life: friends, family, school...her... "Oh." Was all she could manage. "A-at least he's striving after his dream..." She laughed at herself. "After Aoko was all worried about him because he didn't tell me anything..."

Chikage pitied the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It was unexpected for me too. I came home to him one day and the next he's..." she sighed again and shook her head to clear it. "Anyway...do you want me to take you home?"

"No," Aoko replied, weary of the depressed atmosphere that they both created. "I'll be fine. Give Kaito my regards when you visit him."

The two stood and took deep breathes. "You know, I'm going to make sure Kaito calls you at least once a week." Chikage spontaneously announced, nodded her head with determination. "It's the least he can do!"

"Right!" Aoko agreed, clenching her fist. With the sudden change of mood, Aoko left the apartment and left Chikage thoughtful.

"I do wonder how long it will be before my little Kai-chan will be himself again. It's so hard not to pinch his cheeks whenever I see him." She giggled to herself then closed the door behind her.

Aoko walked home with a more confident stride but was still upset that Kaito didn't tell her about his leaving. She heard her phone ring and pulling it out she saw an unknown number. She flipped her phone open. "Hello?"

"O-oh, ah, Aoko, it's Kaito..."

"KAITO YOU JERK! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME!" she roared into the phone instantly.

"Hehe, sorry about that..."

"AMERICA'S A LONG WAYS AWAY! AND YOU JUST UP AND GO?"

"...Right but..."

"THE LEAST YOU COULD DO WAS TELL ME!" Aoko's eyes filled with tears. "Kaito..."

The other felt sympathy for her.

"Aoko I..."

"Kaito, when will you be home? It's already been a week and Aoko is lonely without you..." she faltered, sniffing and wiping away tears. She knew that Kaito would make fun of her if she continued like this so she put on the most commanding voice that she could manage, "Listen, Jerkaito, You better call me every week! And you better not find anyone over there or else I'll...I'll... never forgive you! You got that?"

"Yes ma'am..." Kaito stuttered. Aoko hung up after that.

The little boy standing in the phone booth with two others sighed heavily. "Kuroba, I will never be doing that again. You heard everything she said. I have Ran to account to, I don't need two girls ripping into me."

Kaito nodded. "Sorry, I asked you to do that, but Aoko is very scary when she's ticked."

_Well at least she doesn't know Karate, _Conan recalled. "Anyway, Hibara, why did you accompany us?"

"Well I figured since you two going to call your girlfriends I should call my boyfriend..."

"What?" Conan exclaimed with wide-eyed astonishment. This remark came totally unexpected as he figured she just came to watch the two of them own up to their mistakes. Kaito was curious too, but didn't bother to question her. Hibara gave Conan a serious look. Which made Conan wonder if she was truly being serious or not.

"Hibara...?"

"What? You don't believe I have a boyfriend?"

Conan shook his head slowly. Kaito knew better and kept out of the discussion.

"How rude!" Hibara tensed her posture and crossed her arms.

_Not good..._Conan and Kaito knew.

Hibara looked thoughtful."You know, you could say I have several boyfriends..." Conan's eyes widened even more. "Three of them you know and are friends with..."

"No way! Who?"

"Tsuburaya-kun, Kojima-kun, Edogawa-kun..." Hibara's gaze slid back to Conan.

"Oh," Conan's look relaxed. "Hehe, you got me there..." Conan looked around. "Wait where's Kuroba?" (He had silently slipped out of the phone booth while those two were conversing) Hibara shrugged her shoulders then left the booth, Conan hurriedly following.

**There we go! Thanks for reading! Comments are encouraged!**


	7. A Rose in the Hand

**Sugoi! Arigatogosaimasu mina-san! (This is the only time you will see me write in Romanji) Geez, I can't say more than that but thank you for reading this far. It's a little bit of a rough going, there's so much potential in doing this story line and I can't seem to get the key to unlocking that door yet so ideas are wonderful if you want to suggest something. **

Kaito thanked Ran heartily for the breakfast she had prepared then headed off with Conan to Dr. Agasa's house. Conan wasn't keen on having Kaito following him around, he hoped that once he knew how to handle himself as a child he would stop following him, but it didn't seem like that was very likely. Kaito, acting the exact opposite of him in every way, bounced happily along side of him as they walked.

"Is there anytime that you're head is down on Earth?" Conan grumbled. "Do you know how stupid you look skipping a long like a little kid?"

"Well we are kids! Might as well enjoy being one!" Kaito grinned.

"But six year old boys don't skip!"

"Oh, don't they? Hmm, well I bet they run! I race you to the doctor's house!" Kaito took off running at full speed.

"What a kid!" Conan sniffed as he watched Kaito run. Suddenly he saw a car, going all too fast whip through the street Kaito just turned on to. He jumped a little then ran over to the other street to see Kaito lean out from behind a trash can.

"That guy needs to watch where he's going. Oh, hey Kudou! I beat you!" the two stood in front of Dr. Agasa's house.

"You're so slow!" Kaito continued to jeer and they wandered up to the door. Agasa greeted them then had them come inside. Conan followed Agasa into his workshop but Kaito took a detour along the way. He slid into a side room where the door was cracked open. He heard typing and so ventured inside.

"What do you want?" came Haibara's annoyed voice. Kaito only saw her silhouette outlined by the light from the computer, she gave off the impression on an angry adult. Kaito rubbed his head and gave a light snicker.

"I thought you could only detect Black Organization people!" He came along side of her and looked at her screen. She shrugged then slammed the lid on her laptop.

"What do you want?" she asked again looking him in the face at last.

"Nothing," Kaito replied with a charming smile, he produced a rose from his hand and offered it to her. She ignored him and opened the laptop again.

She continued to type busily on her computer. Kaito stuck the rose in his pocket then pulled up a chair to sit next to her. He leaned in slightly. Then a little more. His hair brushed her shoulder and made her shiver. She shoved him off the chair and onto the floor.

"Hey! What was that for?" Kaito grumbled.

"Why are you staring over my shoulder?"

"I want to see what you're doing."

"Well I could be doing anything. What did you think I was doing?"

"Looking at pictures from what I could tell, before you shoved me off the chair..." he hesitated. "I was just wondering what kind of pictures, because, knowing you, it could be cat pictures or it could be po-" Haibara silenced him with a icy glare. He heeded the warning this time.

"For your information I was looking at cat pictures." She turned back to her computer and continued tacking away at it. Kaito sat for a moment. He decided to crawl back up on the chair. He leaned in only slightly this time. Haibara tensed.

"What? You're interrupting me!" she growled.

"I was just thinking," her face changed slightly. "I think if I do a heist, I will take the antidote when I do, it's really impossible for me to do anything, as short as I am. But that means you have to make taking it a lot less painful."

"Why? Maybe I put all the sorrow and pain that I've had in my life into those pills so I won't be alone in it..."

Kaito gave her a strange look. "Well, I already went through a lot of pain and I don't want to go through it again."

Haibara raised an eyebrow, but didn't look at him. He continued in stifled, broken phrases as if what he was saying injured him, "I lost my dad to this organization. It was his last magic show. He taught me everything I know about magic. My mom also travels a lot so I rarely see her. Now I'm going to find what the organization is after and destroy it, before they get their bloody hands on it."

"Hmm," Haibara sighed. "I lost my whole family to the Black Organization. Then I was forced to continue working on this drug that my parents developed to kill other people. And only a little while ago my sister was killed by them too."

"Touche, well I'm forced to take on the role of a world famous thief, hiding my identity from my best friend, and being hunted by an organization that wants to kill me."

"I'm so sorry," Haibara scoffed. "Like you, though, I am being hunted by an organization filled with assassins and snipers. Despite my genius I have the body of a child and am therefore treated as such..." Kaito looked bored and apathetic. "...And I am responsible for the death of hundreds of people."

A wave of shock slid over his face, followed by understanding. This was a fact he had not yet recognized. After all, he, Kudou and Haibara were all supposed to have died from this drug. They were the lucky ones.

"I understand..." Kaito forced a laugh. "My difficulties are nothing...compared to yours."

Haibara blinked slowly and studied Kaito for a moment. "That's why having Kudou around is such a good thing. I don't know how many times he's saved my life from criminals, B.O. Members, and even from myself. He's always so optimistic and charged with doing what's right. He's not out for revenge, he just wants to protect others."

"Still he could stand to wipe the proud look on his face he he solves a case," Kaito added. Haibara grinned with the knowledge of the subject.

The two turned to see the door being pushed open by Conan. "Oh, Kuroba, Hibara, what are you up to?"

"Talking," they said simultaneously. Conan released the doorknob from his hand and looked at the two.

"About...what?"

"You," Haibara answered shortly.

"Ladies," Kaito added abruptly.

The two others looked at him. "Well didn't you know that if you add _ladies_ really slowly to the end of a phrase it makes it sound like you're a creeper? Try it."

"As if I needed to know that," Conan grumbled, secretly trying it in is head and concluding that it was true.

"Try it," Kaito urged to Hibara. She only gave him a look then turned back to the computer.

"I'll work on finding a nicer antidote," Haibara noted, ignoring his remark. "But I can't promise anything. When is your next heist?"

"I don't know, I need to do some research first, but I'll let you know when I find something," Kaito replied as he slid off of the chair. He brushed past Conan and stood in the hall way. "Come on Mr. Slowpoke! I'll verse you in soccer again!"

"No way. I'm not taking that excuse again. You can just go home and eat your own dinner and sleep at your own house..." That was the last Haibara heard as the two left the house. She breathed a sigh as Dr. Agasa entered the room.

"What's wrong Ai-kun?"

"Nothing, I just stumbled upon a little treasure trove of information about one of my test subjects. It's quite an interesting set too."

"Why do you always call them 'test subjects'? It sounds so, creepy, you know?" Haibara shrugged and continued to work on her computer.

**Side note: I got 3 goldfish the other day and named them Shinichi, Heiji and Kaito. Kaito is the biggest and Shinichi is the smallest and I had to trick Kaito to feed Shinichi. Sigh...Kaito you're such a fatty.**

**Anywho, thanks again for reading! I'm expecting a chapter from Misa-neechan (that's what I call my sister) so you might get a taste of her writing. Until next chapter! **


	8. Heist 2?

**An extra story written for "Phantom Thief's a Kid!" by Zana Charleson **

_I would like to note my writing style is VERY different from my sisters, so here we go!_

Noriaki Ono, the local millionaire in Tyoko desired a small magician for his daughter's 6th birthday. Etsuko, or Etsu as she was commonly called had asked for a magician close to her age. When her father pleaded with her, she assured him that only a kid her age could 'properly' do magic tricks because the magician in question, would know what she likes. After all adults are _very_ stupid and know nothing about the affairs of a child. Since Etsu was quite spoiled, her father relented.

Her father had sat back and scratched his head as he wondered about what he could possibly do for his beloved Etsu's birthday.

He lay back in his comfortable, and much worn leather chair. He closed his eyes, thinking of what could possibly be done to resolve this problematic situation. His hand reached up to rub his aged forehead in vexation and annoyance.

"If only I could hire a magician and shrink him!" he said to himself.

Ever so quietly, the door to the study opened with a slight squeak and click. Noriaki's eyes looked up slowly, trailing from the dark brown carpet beneath him up to his butler who stood in the door frame. At six-foot-one, the butler Tsutomu was a towering man of forty-eight. His hair was still full and his countenance was thin but commanding. He held a silver platter with a single note upon it.

Noraki razed from his vintage chair and ambled over to Tsutomu. (We can say ambled because of his obvious limp that was caused after he had attempted to ride an electronic bull at a fair in the United States and shattered his femur in 7 ½ places. The doctor noted what would be the 8thplace was only a fracture thus making 7 ½ fracture points.) He picked up the notice, scrawled quite hurriedly on a white note card that read.

For this heist, a simple gest,

I will come as a reportedly welcome guest.

To steal the moon night fair,

I will come on the night of an even pair.

Now let us not forget the time you see,

It will be over at approximately three.

The report was of a future Kid heist that apparently would be over at three on the night of the even pair. Naturally he was referring to August 22nd. Inwardly the man groaned as he thought of his beloved Etsu's birthday, the day after the reported Kid heist.

His hands began to sweat as he rubbed them together to stop the incessant sweating.

After the news that made the poor fellow wish he were dead, his beloved daughter Etsu entered the room, skirting around Tsutomu. She wore a light pink dress, her hair in pigtails that bounced ever so slightly as she walked through the room.

She walked across the room and promptly set herself in a chair that was directly across from her father's favorite chair. Etsu's chair was white and had small pink flowers painted all along the chair for it was wood, and hand crafted by a renowned carpenter from Turkey named Cem Demir who had one eye and one leg and could do mostly nothing except make chairs. (This was due to the fact he had brain damage and only had enough attention span to make chairs; this was caused by an unfortunate yak attack.)

She began to rock back and forth in her chair as she began to tell her father all about the day's events.

"Father, we have a new student in our class! His name is Lupin Kitsune and I am very much in love with him." She stated this very matter-of-factually to her father who had turned his full attention towards her and listened intently.

"Oh now dear there is no way…"

"I used to love Conan Edogawa but he is much too prosaic…"

"Honey, don't use such words as prosaic, you sound much too grown up…"

"Lupin-san is fun and energetic, he is like Edogawa-kun but much better and I insist you invite him to my birthday party."

"But Etsu, he is a boy you know."

"Yes, I know, and he is the most dreamy, and hunky guy I've ever laid eyes on."

Noriaki had no idea how to respond to his daughter's statement of love for a boy in her class and said nothing. His little girl smiled gleefully and his gaze focused on the two poster columns, which was in naturally Corinthian-style in accordance with the rest of the house.

After her statement, Etsu happily skipped out of the room and down the hallway leaving her father to visually deflate. Tsutomu rushed to his master's side attempting to help him get up as the secretary to his business Michie rushed in, holding a cordless phone in her left hand.

"Sir, officer Nakamori is on the phone."

"Not now." He sighed to himself as he grabbed the phone from her left hand. "Hello? This is Ono, is there anything you need?"

"Yes, we got word that a notice of heist has been sent to your _lovely _home."

"This is true, is there anything you need?"

"Well we normally deal with…"

"I am aware; I will be handling this without the police thank you very much."

"Wai-" He then hung up on the inspector and walked into the room of his gem. 'The Fair' was a name the gem had received for its reputation for being found in garbage cans at state fairs.

Its light blue color made the gem exceptionally rare for such a large diamond. He took it gingerly out of the case and held it in his palm. The cool touch of the gem against his palm was invigorating every time he touched it.

He kissed the gem in its single dent and put it gingerly back into the case, smiling to himself. He knew this gem would not be stolen, and if it was, then he could just look around the local fair for it. Yes, Noriaki Ono was in love with his gem find.

_~1 Week later on August 22nd~_

Kaito hoisted himself from the ground into the kitchen of the Onos. Ironically no digging was needed as he had discovered a tunnel running directly from the park across the street into the Ono's house, specifically into the unused pantry of the massive kitchen. The kitchen was decorated in marble with gold accents and stainless steel appliances. As he opened the door of the pantry a single maid stood sweeping the floor. She turned just in time to see a very short kid in white coming out of the pantry dressed in a much too large Kaito Kid outfit.

The maid went pale and almost fainted but corrected herself, straitening her spine so it would hold her up once more. Kaito winked and put a finger to his lips as he walked over to the elevator across from the kitchen. (The house was very large) as he walked in he heard a thump, undoubtedly from the maid falling from passing out.

He silently chuckled to himself as he pushed 'Close Door' and then the button entitled 'Diamond Room'. The hydraulic pumps that pulled the elevator made a thump and began to move the elevator, pausing at the second floor.

The door opened and in walked yet another maid, this time one that was rather petite and rotund carrying a large mop bucket and mop.

Kaito jumped back expecting her to yell about him being there, attack him with a broom like Aoko, or even try catching him herself. Instead she walked in calmly and set the mop bucket down on the floor of the elevator and looked straight ahead at the platinum siding of the elevator.

"Evening." She said simply, continuing to look ahead.

"Evening." He replied shakily in response to the old woman.

"Done got shrunk didn't you Mr. Phantom Thief." She continued to look straight ahead… expressionless.

Kaito inwardly panicked. His eyes became huge and his body began to back its self into a corner. This woman was scaring him.

The elevator stopped on the 5th floor and she walked out of the elevator calmly, looking straight ahead and said back to him "You best be changin' Mr. Phantom Thief. You'll get caught in that." With her comment said the door closed, leaving Kaito by himself in the elevator. He wiped beads of sweat off the top of his forehead as he relaxed slightly allowing the elevator to do its job of taking him up to the 'Diamond Room'.

In the background plaid elevator music to which there was an electronic plate playing the song which read "Ray Stevens: _Mississippi Squirrel Revival._"

"What kind of a song is that?" Kaito mumbled to himself. With that the doors opened to a violet colored room with drapery hanging tastefully all over the dark room.

No one was there. Kaito pulled down his goggles to look for lasers, none were to be found. "This is too easy." He said to himself as he walked across the room, being careful of where he stepped in case of traps. He put on gloves and lifted up the glass case half expecting to be shocked. Nothing came. So he lifted the case and gingerly took the gem out of the case and placed the lid next to the pedestal it was on. The glass glittered in the moonlight and he took the jewel over to examine the gem in the moonlight. Upon examining the jewel he determined that it was not Pandora and placed it back in the case.

Noriaki Ono stepped out of the shadows and looked down at the child in an overly large white suit.

"I see, so Kid didn't want to come himself." Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard the voice behind him, but maintained his poker face as he turned around to face the owner of the mansion.

"Say boy… can you do magic tricks?"

_What happened between the previous scene and this future act cannot be documented._

Kaito stood in a very large curly rainbow wig, smeared with white paint on his face which was beginning to dry and make it very hard to talk. He clutched his stuffed squeaky dove soo hard it let out a loud "ssssqqqqqeeeeeeeeeeak" the little girl in front of him giggled as she joyously looped rope around his gut to a chair, which at this moment, was making a very important article of clothing ride up.

"I can't believe Daddy got Lupin-kun to come and do magic tricks for me! I'm never letting you go!" She then gave him a hard kiss on the cheek forcing his head to the left side.

"You did AMAZING tricks for my party, now I get to keep Lupin-kun. Now don't run away, Etsu will be right back!" As soon as the little girl was gone Kaito shrugged off the binds and pulled out his cellphone to call Kudo.

"Kudo, you have to save me!"

"Me, save you? Yeah right."

"No, I've been kidnapped by a little girl!"

Shinichi began to snicker. "It's not funny man!"

"Yeah it is, fine we'll pick you up, just lay low." Shinichi then snickered again and hung up.

Kaito decided the best cover was the little girl herself and resumed his position in the bonds and waited. She returned with 2 glasses of half full orange juice cups. (They were half full from the skipping.) Kaito half paid attention as she began to talk, he half listening as he pinned his ears back for a doorbell or a car out front.

Four hours and twenty-six minutes later the doorbell rang, and what he assumed, grown up version of Haibara appeared to pick him up from 'his friend's birthday party'. No words of kidnapping, just giggling when he got in the car. Kudo was going to pay for this.

**Oh and if you're wondering what ever you have questions about I refer you to the line "What happened between the previous scene and this future act cannot be documented." Also, I made a connection to the manga with Haibara showing up. Yep, read the chapter 816 and 817. It took place at the same time. XD**

**Anaiese Von Claire: I'm not even sure if that could happen, but I guess now my story is going by the manga instead of the anime or just hanging in space. Thanks Zana, for writing this for me! **


	9. Of Monocle Wearing Aliens and Chess

The steam rolled and vanished into the night air. But the sound that accompanied it did not. It lingered. It was the scream that pierced the air and not the sound of the bullet. This whole scene took place in a split second but lasted forever in his mind, as a shocked and startled wave crashed over him. She was in a dress tonight, one that stood out boldly against the packed snow beneath their feet, but he came in his nicest suit, the white one, with the blue polo and red tie, but at this point it was stained; covered with soot and dirt. He was aware that his position, leaning against the brick building would dirty his costume further but all he could do was stare. The others, in solid black suits, the leader, with an added black hat, were just a blur. The object that fired caught only a little of the moonlight, but was otherwise just like its owner: a blur. Smoke billowed from the barrel, cold and soulless; lasting only a moment longer than the steam from the sound earlier. The men were enveloped in the darkness of the alley, leaving only silence.

She lay on the ground, limp, unmoving. Her hair scattered in untamed manner. Her hands were clasped near her chest, holding the glass piece he knew so well, her hands covered in the red stain as well as her dress. The snow was covered in the same manner with the crimson substance. He remained in shock, leaning against the wall. He willed himself to move towards her but his legs remained locked. He collapsed onto his knees, his pants instantly soaking in the cold melted snow. He sat back on his heels, arms at his sides. A faint sound escaped from his mouth, the same sound that she had cried earlier. "No." His hand, covered with a torn velvet glove stretched forward toward the girl. He touched her hair but felt nothing due to the cold. He gently tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at her, tears welling and even streaming down his face. He stroked her cheek but no movement, sound, or breath came from her. She was cold. A wave of sorrow rushed upon him, engulfing him like a bitter wind. He dropped his body hopelessly onto the cold blanket curling into a helpless, fetal position. He ached from the cold even down to the bones. He closed his eyes, exhausted from everything and tried to relax his shivering body.

When he woke he was in a white room. Men and women in white coats asked him who the girl was. He couldn't answer. They asked him who his parents were. He didn't know. They asked him many questions, none of which he knew the answer to. The doctor told a familiar figure that it was amnesia. What was that again? He looked at his hands, small and child-like. Tears suddenly rolled down his face and he felt himself being drug from an all-too-realistic world into another reality.

He woke again in his room. Really awake this time and back in reality. He felt a tear roll to the bottom of his chin and drip off. He rubbed his face clear of tears and sniffed. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again so he rolled the covers over and stepped quietly into the living room. He flipped on the light and searched for a video that he watched whenever he woke up in the night: his dad's magic performances. He slid the tape into the VCR and hit play. He let out a sigh and smiled slightly as the video began to play. He laughed at his dad's best tricks, and recited how each was accomplished in his head.

As he finished the tricks, his dad crowed good night, he gave his legendary line: "Always have a good Poker Face," then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He clapped and cheered as his dad vanished; "Poker Face!" he recited. He breathed his relief from having recovered from the earlier dream. Then turned off the television and looked at the time. 3:03 A.M. Too early to do anything besides sleep. So he went to his bookshelf and pulled out his dad's old books and began to work on some new tricks.

...

Kaito's face sat heavily in his hand. He stared blankly ahead with is pencil in his mouth. Conan, sitting next to him looked equally as tired and even started writing his kanji backwards. Haibara tapped her pencil on Conan's desk. "What are you doing?" she whispered harshly. Conan revived himself then looked at Haibara. She motioned to Kaito, who still remained in his stupor. Conan shoved Kaito who flailed his arms. Once he settled he turned and gave him a look. Conan gave him a face back. Kobayashi-sensei shushed both of them from the front of the class; both bowed their heads in apology.

Later in the day the kids were cleaning the classroom and reorganizing things. Kaito gazed dreamily out of the window, holding a mop in his hand. The detective boys gathered a little ways away and observed Kaito staring out of the window.

"So, do you think he's okay?" Ayumi asked, mostly directed toward Conan.

Conan sighed as he walked past them with a broom, "I don't know, Kuroba is weird." He gave a yawn.

The kids looked at Conan oddly. "Ah! I mean Lupin!" he corrected quickly. He felt Haibara's stare drill into the side of his head. He ignored her.

"Lupin-kun, are you okay?" Ayumi said in her little concerned voice while approaching Kaito.

"Hmm?" Kaito looked at her. "uh, yeah I'm good."

"Why are you so out of it today?"

"I am? Well, it's just because..." he thought for a moment. "because I'm just remembering someone back on my home planet."

"Home...planet?" Mitsuhiko started. "Where's that?"

"I really don't know where, exactly. It's out in space somewhere. But on my planet, people are covered in hair with spots all over their body and they have a tendency to wear capes and monocles. That's why if you ever see me wearing a cape and a monocle you will know that I'm just imitating the people on my planet. Okay?" The Detective Boys nodded.

"Who was that someone you were thinking about on your home planet?" Ayumi pried.

Kaito looked at her, smiled weakly then gazed back out of the window. He gave a soft laugh, "Just a little nut whom I was friends with since we were little."

Ayumi gasped. "Do you like her?"

Kaito smiled a little wider. _You could say that..._he thought, but instead said: "Psh, she's just a friend, but I do miss seeing her." He turned back to the kids. "You miss your friends after while, you know?"

Ayumi grinned and tackled Kaito in a big hug and the other two boys became all upset over this.

"He was certainly born for the stage," Haibara commented.

…

**Side story time! (Mostly because I can't think of anything else to write for the more main chapter story thing). This takes place while Heiji was still hanging out with them. **

"Hey Kudou! Let's play a game o' chess!"

Conan looked back at Heiji, seemingly confused at the proposition. "Why?"

"Just fer the fun of it, ya know? I wanna see if I can beat 'cha."

"I honestly doubt that Hattori."

"Well if yer too afraid ta try..."

Kaito suddenly rounded the corner. "I want to watch you guys duke it out! Come on, how can call yourself a great detective when you won't play chess?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Conan grumbled.

"PLEASE?" Kaito and Heiji coaxed. Conan reluctantly consented and the board was set up in Mori's office. Mori, who was currently listening to a horse race in his chair only made a face as the three came in and told them to keep it down. The game ensued.

Conan moved a pawn, Heiji did the same. Conan pulled out his bishop, likewise with Heiji. Knights soon followed as did other pieces and it quickly became a mess of pieces, but none of them killed yet. Katio sat thoroughly bored with the whole game. _I guess this is what all games between smart people are like..._Kaito decided. "Seriously Kudou," he moaned while sprawling on the floor. "Does you 'code of conduct' limit you to not even killing people on a chess board?" Conan gave him a look as Heiji made his move, killing the first piece, a pawn. Immediately Heiji's piece, a knight, was eliminated. Heiji, a little irked, moved another piece...it too was silenced (although chess pieces can't talk in the first place). Every move the poor Osakan made it was immediately killed, Conan had set it up all too well.

It was about when Heiji was down to five pieces: three pawns, his king, and a rook when Ran came down and saw them playing their game. "It looks like there's smoke pouring from your ears," she teased. "I'll make you something to drink to cool off the engines."

"Thanks," both mumbled.

"I'll help you make them, this game is boring," Kaito added while standing and following Ran into the kitchen.

Conan watched them disappear then moved his queen to put Heiji's king in check.

"Drat ya Kudou! Ya'll play like you've been playin' since ya were born!"

Kaito popped back in with the drinks, a glass of lemonade with mint, and gave one to both. Heiji took a sip of his then moved his king. Kaito realized that in approximately 6 moves Conan would have Heiji checkmated and who knows all of the colorful noise that would come out of Heiji at that moment when he lost. Heiji suddenly tensed. Conan looked up apathetically. "What's up?"

"I think I'm gonna visit the lil' detective's room and investigate the furnishin' a bit. Don't move my pieces!" Heiji scrambled up and practically threw himself into the restroom, slamming the door behind him.

"What came over him?" Conan pondered aloud. Kaito shrugged. The game was put on hold while Conan and Kaito sipped their lemonade and Heiji did his business.

Kaito sat up. "Oh, I just forgot that I had a report that I needed to write. Wow what a waste of time. I'll see you later, Kudou." Katio ran up the stairs and was no longer seen. A moment later Ran re-appeared.

"How's the lemonade?"

"Great! Thanks Ran-neechan!"

Ran smiled and left the room and left Conan waiting for Heiji. While he waited Conan headed up the stairs to retrieve a book. When he came back down he saw Heiji at the table with a bit of a nervous face. "Hattori, you can't be that scared about loosing to me. I mean, it's just a chess game."

"Why I be nervous about that?" Conan walked over and sat down, laying the book next to him. He moved his piece. Heiji moved his. Back and forth and before he knew it, Conan was down the his king and two pieces and Heiji was down to his king and two pieces.

"I thought for sure..." Conan had a bit of a startled look on his face. Heiji smirked. "Ya can't outwit Hattori Heiji!" he crossed his arms across his chest. Conan thought for a moment. Then smiled.

"Okay, _Hattori_, let's step this game up a bit."

"Bring it!"

The two duked it out neither giving any lee-way in their playing. Neither could corner the other until the both made slip-ups and the game ended in a stalemate. "Good game," Conan grinned.

"Same to you." Heiji agreed.

"So," Conan added. "How did you recover so quickly? I thought I had you..."

"Well I thought a bit while I was in the toilet. And came for a good come back." He added a grin.

"Yeah right!" Conan reached across the table and pinched Heiji's cheek, he pulled back and saw...Ran's face?

"Ran...neechan? How did? What did? ….Huh?"

Ran gave a weak smile. "Lupin-kun suggested it...he's been telling me what to do..."

"I see."

"And Conan, why do you call Hattori-kun, Hattori without the honorific?"

"Oh, that..."

Kaito sighed and walked in then in his sweetest most adorable voice said: "Thanks Ran-neechan for helping joke with Conan-kun! You're a really good actress!" Thus sparing Conan from an excuse.

Ran instantly forgot about Conan and turned to Kaito, "No problem, I think Conan needs to act more like a kid sometimes," she smiled at Conan. He ignored the remark.

_About a half-an-hour later..._

"Sorry I took so long guys..," Heiji laughed and rubbed his head. "It seems there was something in the lemonade that..." he opened his eyes and saw an empty room. "Darn it, where'd they go?" Heiji wandered into the kitchen then saw a little bottle labeled: laxative. Heiji followed the clues and deduced that: 'That little brat Kid did it' and was half convinced to take revenge on him but then he looked at the chess board and discovered that Kaito had gotten his pieces into a stalemate rather than a miserable failure of a checkmate. He forgave him a little.

And that was how chess was marked off as a 'never-to-do-when-bored-at-Kudou's-place.'

**There we go, there's a little show reference in the first part for those who've read Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, I doubt that's many DC fans though, but it's most specifically for Zana Charleston -a huge Maid-Sama fan...:P**

**I don't know why, but the earlier part was supposed to be really detailed and descriptive. It didn't really turn out that way...sigh... Until next time! XD**


	10. Kaito's Input on a Black Clash

**I was writing one chapter originally, but I think I'll do somethin' a little different. NOTE: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE MANGA. If you don't mind spoilers read on and enjoy. :D**

**-turns to Kaito- Have at it!**

**-Kaito grins- Ladies and gentlemen, let the show begin!**

Apparently, our author has run out of good ideas. She asked me to take over for her and, as a gentleman, I couldn't refuse! She requested of me that I tell about one of my heists from my point of view. Again, I couldn't refuse!

-Ahem-

So it was about a couple of weeks ago when the four-eyed detective called me saying something about a train ride, jewels and my heist. It was kinda like handing me a free pass to Tropical Land, so ofcourse I would go, but he mentioned taking the antidote to turn back into my normal self. "You're kidding me." I had muttered back over the phone. "Haibara hasn't even developed a formula that won't burn when you take it. Why would I do that? Plus I would disguise better as a kid anyway!"

"Well," he had replied as I heard him adjust his phone, "Then I'll make you a deal. You'll come and disguise yourself and I'll probably figure you out, right? So I'll make sure the police don't bother with you when there's a murder case."

"You said when. Why did you say when?" I was more than a little worried at Kudou's obvious covering of the truth.

"Never mind that, are you coming or not?"

I shrugged my shoulders -as if he could hear them over the phone- and made a little sound. "Probably."

"Okay, no jumping out now, you're the infamous Kaito Kid! You take on challenges and win the crowd over with magic all at the same time, right?" He said this in such a sweeping manner I couldn't help but glow a little.

"Yeah!" I suddenly realized he was just trying to boost my self-confidence to make sure I would come. "W-wait! Hey! What if I don't come?" No reply. The little twerp hung up on me. I had half a mind not to show just to screw him up.

I wondered why it was SO important that I had to come and work on my heist info when _he_ was specifically there. And why was he hiding something? Sheesh.

At that point I got back my apartment from doing...I don't remember what...and sat down at my laptop. I looked up some research on the 'mystery train' and hacked my way into the system to figure out who was on next ride that I should call and reschedule. Komino Natsue seemed likely. She also had a maid that always helped her so Jii-chan would obviously take the part of the old lady and I would be the maid. But Jii-chan's lack of tone changing made it close to impossible for him to play a woman, even if it was an older woman. I later decided to lip-sync a voice for him, but he's never been a good actor.

I'll skip all the boring 'in between' stuff for you because I get bored talking about it. It's all the preparations and phones calls I had to make in order to make ends meet.

Anywho, I had gotten all dressed out in my outfit and Jii-chna in his and then we stood around with the group and mingled to get a sense of how everyone felt about my character. Strangely enough, everyone in one car was related to a single incident. A case of a house fire, I think. Jii-chna's role was to be the only one who survived -but with damaged legs- and of course I survived as well. When Mori showed up everyone acted surprised so we did as well.

What a fake. How many times has it been that I've seen Kudou do all the deductions while he's sleeping like a baby? No preference to Kudou -who would be the champion of "Where's Waldo?"- but that old man needs to get a brain and a life. You know the quote I said about thieves being artists and detectives critics? It's true until you come to old man Kogoro. I'll get off my soap box now...

Upon boarding the train, I set up a couple of my usual items. Make-up, shoes, women's things...Note that I would NOT put this stuff in my room if I were posing as a guy. Seriously. Also I should let you know that this was one of Jii-chan's first times doing a full blown disguise. He often just disguises as himself or a little younger. I can't say he looks back at this mission with an aspect of joy. He's still angry in his quiet, respectful way.

Moving on, it was very soon that I had found myself mixed up in a murder case, just as Kudou had said would happen. I was glad that he had promised to keep me out of the ordeal. And he did to the best of his ability. However he easily caught us when he started asking Jii-chan question's when I had to run down the hall. I'll say it again- he's a brat. How that Ran girl can stand him is beyond me.

I'll skip beyond the "whodunit" deduction part.. If Kudou were telling this story he'd probably tell you every gruesome detail and thought process he had as he was telling about the case which you, dear reader, don't care about...most likely. If you do, my apologies, but you're weird. And just to let you know, it was the guy with the long nose, glasses and receding hair-line...just saying...

Kudou slipped past everyone as they left because of the alleged 'fire' and wandered up to Jii-chan. "You're Kaito and one of his accomplices, right? You came to scout out the train!"

I really felt like saying 'thanks Sherlock, you can get the captain obvious award now' but maintaining my usual poker face I just made a confused face. "Are you joking?"

This whole 'second deduction' really gave him great joy and I listened to him blabber on and on about how he could tell Jii-chan was lip-syncing because he was short. In reality he was wasting the precious amount of time I had while I was big. Oh, that's right I forgot to tell you about that. In short: it was horrible and I'm dreading turning back, which is twice as bad apparently.

"And so," I began after his spiel. "You made it clear that (for some reason) I owe you one. What do you want me to do?" Aka.: what was the real reason you wanted me here? Calling me all the way from my house to come out to the middle nowhere...

"I want you to disguise as this woman," he held up a picture on a young woman on his phone who looked quite similar to Haibara. "and shake off the bad guys that are after her. Your conversations with them will be picked up by a microphone and she will tell you everything you need to say via and earphone." I gave him a face. He ignored me and continued. "They'll probably try and corner her in the storage hold, where they've set some explosives, so be careful..."

"Really, Kudou? You could have told me this earlier over the phone you know. I would have been more prepared!"

"If I would have told you over the phone you probably would have refused though," He remarked. That was true. "Also, here's a phone. If there are any problems let me know, I'll try to help. I'll call you later."

"Hey Kudou," I called before he left. "Is this Haibara?"

"Yeah."

"She's not too hard on the eyes, huh." I noticed him blush a little as he ran off into the fog. I smirked. "Jii-chan, you go ahead and go to the front of the train, I have some business to take care of."

"Please be careful, Master Kaito!" he stood, taking his wheelchair, and made his way after Kudou towards the front of the train. I slipped into my room and pulled out my glider and yanked on extra polo and pair slacks I happened to have. I ran down the corridor to the storage hold, running into Haibara along the way, I obtained the headphones and mic from her then continued my sprint to the storage. I was glad I could be of assistance to her. When she saw me her look of worry faded into a small smile. Her portion of the organization must really be terrifying.

The next car was thick with smoke and threatening to kill me before the organization members even got to me. Then I suddenly heard a menacing voice behind me, the first portion he said I couldn't understand but loud and clear I heard: "Pleased to meet you...Bourbon, that's my codename..." I whipped around to see a young man with bleach blond hair and dark skin -he had the complexion of a surfer. "Perhaps you have heard that name before? I have met your parents and your sister..."

"Yeah, I've heard of you," I said, repeating what Haibara spoke into the mic. "You are the member of the organization who was the rival of my sister's lover, Moroboshi Dai." This was truly a soap opera unraveling.

Bourbon smirked. He confirmed what I said and added some other facts which, at the time, I really didn't have the attention to listen to. Then he pointed his gun at me and said: "Shall I have you come this way to the storage hold carriage beyond carriage 8?" I walked towards the last carriage, his gun pointed at my back.

When we arrived at the door to the last carriage he asked me quite pleasantly to open it. He then told me his plan to take me back to the organization alive, but of course he would knock me out first and such...I didn't care much for his courtesy. I lifted a blanket in the storage hold and found a good number of bombs in there. I informed him of this, he seemed slightly surprised. I was little more then surprised on the sheer number of them in one place but apathetically told him: "Looks like there was some slip-up in your preparations..."

"Well never mind that then," he returned. "Why don't you just come with me..."

I had to get my glider set up, I could see where this whole scenario was going to end up. "Umm, I think I'll turn down that offer," I replied closing the door behind me. There was a moment's hesitation then I heard an explosion behind me...Admittedly, I freaked out a little when I heard that because I knew the rest of the train was going to blow so I jumped out of the back with my glider partially strapped on. In the air I put it on as quickly as possible. I was more than a little irritated. That brat tried to blow me up! It was all I could do to not start cussing Kudou out when he called.

"Idiot!" I screamed into the phone. "I didn't sign up for this you know! Guns and explosives? What the heck is up with your bad guys?! If I hadn't gotten my glider in the storage hold, I'd be charcoal-grilled right now!"

"Well, since this is _the_ Kaito Kid the we're taking about I'd figured you would be prepared. Anyway, you're out of my debt..."

"You better believe I am! Idiot! You're a little brat!"

Kudou giggled. "Just remember to give you phone back to the agency, okay?" He hung up.

"Geez. Out of your debt? Well you're definitely in my debt now, stupid detective..." I thought. And that still holds true. Kudou still has yet to do something that traumatic to repay his debt to me. But apparently I wasn't the only one who didn't know about this plan. Haibara was pretty ticked with Kudou, but at least she had something to be grateful for. And what we both don't understand is why he uses such unfamiliar terms to address me. I guess it's just a part of the show...

When Kudou explained the entire occurrence, the fact that Haibara took the antidote to save the kids, the Black Organization finding her, ect. I was irritated that he didn't tell me before hand because I would have been willing to lend my service to her in that case. Kudou was stubborn though and insisted that he had to tell me with a sense of urgency or else I wouldn't come. Plus it was to build up suspense for the audience. That's what he told me.

If you're a bit confused, dear readers, I'll explain what is occurring on this show at a later point... maybe. That is, if the author allows me to tell another story. Which I'm sure she will because she found my story very agreeable.

Now, although I am not an author, the one who wrote this story asks that that I make a request of you all. She asks that you leave a comment. But, don't disappear just yet, she doesn't mind if you only write a punctuation mark like "!" for excited or "?" for confused or "..." for waiting in anticipation for later stories. Because as anyone on this writing website knows: authors want comments! Now back to our author, Anaiese.

**I love you Kaito! :3 3 I hope you enjoyed this story and I'm serious about the punctuation marks. O_O -stare- it's two keys...you can do an emoticon as well. I love those too. XD **


	11. A Better Version of Miso Soup

**It's been awhile so here's another chapter. I wrote this basically in a day because I had a burst of inspiration...hope you enjoy it. I also have the same request as last time. You can just leave a punctuation mark or an emoticon if you don't want to leave a comment (and thanks to those of you who did so! :3) **

Haibara tacked away on her computer then looked at the little lab she had set up. She adjusted a few knobs then looked through a microscope. She hit enter on her computer, wrote a couple more things down then closed her laptop. She took the powdered mixture that had been produced and carefully filled the capsules. She closed them with a machine and dropped them inside the bottle then breathed a sigh of relief. She turned the machines off then stuck the bottle in her pocket subconsciously. She walked out of the room, being careful to remember to lock the door before the guests came over. She inhaled the sweet smell of a big pot of miso soup. She grinned and headed toward the kitchen to help out. She, of course, had to make sure that Agasa put and appropriate amount of healthy food to measure out anything extra that he had put in.

"Hakase, what all have you put in the soup?" she asked as she saw him stirring the pot.

"Just the normal things tofu, radish, onions, potatos..."

"Mhmm. Nothing extra greasy, right?"

Agasa shook his head.

"I'm not sure if I believe you." Haibara stuck her hands in her pocket casually. She realized that she had the bottle of pills in there still, so she pulled at out and looked at it just as the doorbell rang. She and the doctor exchanged looks and they traded places, Agasa went and got the door while Haibara kept and eye on the soup. Haibara placed the bottle on the counter. She watched as everybody was herded in,stirring the soup occasionally. As everyone settled she turned off the heat and put a lid on the soup and joined Conan and Lupin.

Today, Agasa had invited Kogoro, Ran, Conan and Lupin for lunch. An extra big pot of soup was made up and was ready to be served. Kogoro leaned against the counter and sipped a beer that Agasa provided when Lupin ran by and startled him. He bumped the counter and almost knocked over the bottle of pills, but he quickly grabbed it before it fell. He looked at the label. _I've never seen this before..._ "Hey, Hakase, what's this?"

"Oh! Those are my pills! Now why were they out?" he glanced at Haibara who shrugged apathetically. Mori placed them the counter then went back and joined the others.

…

Lunch was enjoyable and filled with talking. Agasa gave his usual riddle, which was easily solved by Conan. Lupin had to think a bit but it was explained to him by Haibara.

"Does he give those a lot?" Lupin asked Conan.

Conan laughed stupidly. "Yeah, he sure does."

"That's going to get old fast."

"You have no idea."

A little while later everyone headed home, each to his own house (except for Conan of course). Ran made a light supper for the residents at the Mori detective agency; Kaito made himself a nice cup of instant ramen at home. After dinner, Kogoro headed out to play Majong with his buddies while Ran cleaned up in the down stairs kitchen and Conan read his comics.

Suddenly Ran let out a gasp and dropped the plate she was drying. Conan jumped at hearing the plate shatter and Ran's gasp. He leapt up and ran to kitchen only to feel a familiar sensation. He too let out a gasp and fell to the floor.

_Dang it! What's going on? _He grabbed his shirt to brace himself then he looked at Ran. The same thing was happening to her. _What?! But Ran shouldn't..._He knew he needed to get away from her or else this would potentially be a very uncomfortable situation. He crawled back to the bathroom as best as he could and just as he closed the door he heard Ran let out a scream which he never wanted to hear again. He himself was on the verge of a scream but the burning sensation let off before he did so. He lay in a cold sweat then he began to think. _This is bad, this is very bad! I was one of the few lucky ones to have survived that drug and if this was similar chemically then it could potentially kill Ran. On the flip side, what about everyone else? Kogoro, Agasa, Kaito, and Haibara? What happened anyway? And if Haibara goes out...then she'll be killed! If she's spotted anyway...I need to get to Ran..._he first looked at himself, he had become a teenager again. Good. But he was shaking and didn't feel like had had enough strength to do anything let alone care for Ran. He began to force himself upon his feet when he heard the sound of a small girl crying. _Ran..._He wobbled over to the door and peeked out to see Ran sobbing in the body of a child. He looked at himself. _I can't go out! She may have the body of a child but she has the mind of a teenager! _He looked desperately around the bathroom for something he could wrap himself in. He saw Conan's clothing and decided that that would have to do. He wrapped himself in toilet paper then tied Conan's long sleeve shirt around his waist. He heaved a sigh then opened the door. Ran turned toward him. Upon seeing him her eyes grew wide and she blushed really hard.

"Shinichi?" she squeaked.

He didn't say anything, scooping her up, he made a mad dash up the stairs, hoping that no one outside would look up the stairs.

"What are you doing here?!" she sniffled as he set her down in the living room. "And why aren't you...clothed?" she blushed harder as she said the last part.

"Don't worry about that now...I'll be right back..." He slipped into the room he shared with Kogoro and pulled out an outfit from his pillow case (he kept one in places he went frequently in case something like this happened). He then searched though his clothing and pulled out something for Ran.

He came back out and saw Ran had vanished. He dropped the clothes in his hand. "Ran! Ran!" he yelled. "Where..." Ran reappeared from her room and looked at Shinichi looking as if she had sobbed even more while he was getting changed. "What's the matter?" he asked as if he didn't already know what was wrong.

"I...I'm Conan-kun's age...and why are you here? I'm so confused!" she bawled. He knew he could take care of Ran in this state but he had to check on the others. He quickly grabbed his phone and called Haibara. When she picked up he heard her adult voice answer.

"I know this looks bad, Kudou-kun. but I think I know what happened." She said immediately as she picked up the phone. "But I can't talk right now, I'm heading to the hospital with Hakase.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The medicine had an adverse affect on him. He needs help now or he won't be with us tomorrow."

"Dang! How can that be?"

"Is Ran alright?"

"She's just in a child version like I was. Have you talked to Kuroba?"

"No, I haven't heard anything. I'll call you back later."

"Right."

He clicked his phone shut and looked at Ran. During his call she had clung to his leg and didn't look like she was going to let go any time soon. He sighed and placed his hand on her head. The door suddenly opened and Kaito tore in with pants hardly on and a shirt half on and backwards as well.

"Kudou! What happened?" he practically shrieked. He looked and saw Ran clasping Shinichi's leg then realized what had happened. Shinichi frowned.

"What about the old man?" Kaito asked. "And Haibara?"

"I haven't heard anything from Kogoro. As for Haibara she's taking Hakase to the hospital."

"Is he okay?"

Shinichi shook his head. "The medicine is potent in some cases, and he might not make it."

"What?" Ran yelped as if she hadn't heard it the first time.

"Do you know how long we'll stay like this?" Kaito whispered to Shinichi.

He shrugged. "Judging from the shakiness, I'd say not long. And by the way, did you run here?"

"Yeah, I don't know how, but I found the energy."

Shinichi glanced at Ran again. Her grip on his leg had loosened and she seemed to be really sleepy. Kaito looked tired as well, almost to the point of falling asleep on his feet. "Let's go down stairs. You two can rest on the couches down there. I'll wait for any news on Kogoro and Hakase." He picked up Ran in his arms. She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. He took her and Kaito down the stairs to the office. He laid the small girl on the couch and Kaito laid down on the one opposite. Both were asleep almost instantly.

Shinichi set both of his phones on the desk in front of him then gazed out of the window. The lights of the city blocked out the stars making the night sky was as black as ink across a white page. He wondered what would happen if this lasted for a while. Ran as a little girl; he, Kaito, and Haibara back to how they used to be; and what if the professor wasn't around? What would he do then? Haibara might be able to keep the house if she took on a job, but any job that actually suited her would probably be easily tracked by the Black Organization. He cupped his head in his hand and rested his arm on the desk. So many things swirled in his head. His head nodded several times until he finally gave in and rested his head on his arms.

…

Shinichi was woken by a phone ringing next to his head. It was his personal phone and the number was unfamiliar. He looked around the room. Someone had turned off the light. He wondered who. He answered the phone quietly; Ran and Kaito were still asleep on the couches.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Haibara...How's Hakase?"

"He should be fine. He's out of surgery but they didn't actually know what was wrong with him, all they could do was fix it."

"How does that work?"

"Well, I told them that he probably ingested something poisonous. So they pumped his stomach and gave him some other medicines to rehydrate him and such. I won't bore you with the details. He should be out in about 3 days. How's it on your end?"

"Ran and Kuroba are with me in the agency's office. The old man may have stopped in because the lights were off when I woke up. He was probably too drunk to even see anything as wrong. He just turned out the lights."

"You don't think the drug did anything to him?"

"Nah, he's too block-headed for that."

"Interesting."

"What was it that made this happen?"

"I made an almost identical product to the Aptoxin 4869 I created earlier. There are a few things changed because I couldn't remember everything in it and I couldn't get the supplies. I was hoping to do some testing with it."

"But how did we all get it?"

"You're the one that's supposed to be the detective. Deduce it."

"You're just not going to tell me the answer, huh? Well whatever. You probably left it out and it probably fell over and dropped some capsules into the miso soup."

"Bingo."

Shinichi sighed. "Well that was really careless. Just imagine if the effects are permanent! Kaito and I'd be fine, but Ran and you...You'd be hunted down in an instant!"

"Do you remember though? Everyone in the BO thinks I'm dead, except Vermouth."

"I feel like you should have been dead several times over..."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. The point is that we need to figure out how to get things back to a relative 'normal.' I'm not a scientist but if taking a similar pill got everyone this way, then taking it again would change us back."

"That, or kill us because of an overdose."

"You're really optimistic."

"I'm realistic, Kudou-kun." Shinichi heard a rustle in the background and turned. Kaito had sat up and was looking at him.

"I think we don't need to worry about that," he told him a slightly too-loud voice. "I saw the pills fall in. There were two."

"Two?"

Kaito nodded then fell back over and continued to sleep. "Was that Kuroba-kun?"

"Yeah, he was sleep-talking."

"Well, if that's the case we may just need to wait and see what happens."

"Hmm. I guess so. I'm worried that Ran will figure everything out though..."

"If she does then I guess it is for the better, right?" Shinichi sighed once again. "Well, I'll call you if there are any changes. I might need your help later on, so get some rest." Shinichi nodded and ended the call. He looked at the clock on his phone. It was 4:30 in the morning. Today Ran would have school. Technically he should too. He paused, thinking of what to do. He would call Ran in sick using Kogoro's voice so that even if she did return to her normal self she could take time to feel better. He would do the same for himself, Kaito and Haibara. The detective boys might think it's odd but they'd all be feeling about the same after this whole ordeal.

Suddenly he felt his chest pound. _Aw, man. Not now! I need to be here for Ran!_ He felt the burning sensation begin to set in. _No! NO! I don't want to be Conan yet! Not while Ran is like this..._He pounded his fist on the table. Ran woke up, startled by the noise. _Wait, not now! _

"Shinichi?" she yawned. She tensed and quickly seemed more alert. "Shinichi? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he gasped. "Just some stomach pain..." he leaned over, using one hand on the desk to brace himself.

"Are you sure? Do you want me to go get something?"

"No, just go back to sleep."

"But you don't look good at all..."

"I said go back to sleep, Ran," he barked unintentionally loudly and harshly.

"Shinichi..." Ran looked scared and offended.

"Come on, Ran-chan," Shinichi heard Kaito's voice. "Let's go up stairs."

"But why? Shinichi needs my help!"

"No, he's fine. Trust me. You're going to be too tired to go to school tomorrow if you don't get your sleep."

"But I can't go to high school..." he heard Ran's voice fade as she headed up the stairs with Kaito.

The sensation like fire coursed through his bones. He had sweat dripping off his head. He moved his hand to his forehead to stop the world from spinning. He felt sick like he had the flu, but had decided to ride on a roller-coaster. The burning and sickness continued to build until he thought he was going to die then as quickly as it had came the pain subsided. He still felt sick but without the burning sensation or the dizziness. He wobbled over to the bathroom and was sick in there until he felt a little better. He cleaned himself up then stepped outside into the cold night air. The cool air felt nice on his face and cooled the sweat. He brushed his hair back and took a deep breath. _So it really was just stomach pain...I'd better watch Kaito and Ran then. _He moved back up the stairs with a little more strength then entered the apartment.

He closed the door behind him. "Sorry guys, I was a little sick..." he rubbed his head then looked and saw Ran running out to him.

"The other boy! He's..." instinctively Shinichi scooped Ran into his arms then ran into the room where Kaito was. He had passed out on the floor, and was in a cold sweat himself. He told Ran to go fetch a cloth with water, she ran off to do so. His pulse was racing and he was burning up. Then suddenly before his very eyes he saw Kaito shrink back into his child form. He heard Ran's footsteps running back and quickly bundled the child-sized teenager and put him in his bed. Mori was in his own, snoozing away his drunken stupor. Ran looked in the room where Kaito was originally, but she only saw Shinichi.

"Where is the other boy?"

"He left. He got up and was fine, he's a little sick, but his home is just around the corner."

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"Yeah, he's tough. Don't worry. I'll go check on him if you want..."

"Please?"

Shinichi nodded then went back down the stairs. His phone was ringing as he went back down to the office. Haibara again.

"Hello?"

"Kudou, I need some clothes."

"You too?"

"Yeah, you're still not back to your child-self yet? That's strange."

"I know. Kaito just passed out and turned back into himself. I'm not sure how long I have either."

"Well, I'm in the ladies room with too-large clothes on. Hakase got out of surgery about twenty minutes ago, it was at that point I started turning back into myself..."

"Okay. Hang tight. I'll try and get there as soon as possible." he clapped his phone shut then ran back up the stairs to Ran. "He's back home safe and sound."

"Thanks Shinichi..."

"I'm going to the hospital now."

"Why?"

"I have to meet someone there for...a case."

"I want to come with you!"

"But you're not even dressed appropriately..."

"Wait here."

"I can't wait long!" The door closed behind her and a minute later she was out in some of her clothes from first grade. _Does everyone keep these outfits anymore? _He shouldered his own bag then the two ran down the stairs and hailed a convenient taxi. He slid in; Ran hopped in after him. He told the driver to go to Dr. Agasa's. Neither spoke; Ran just stared ahead and Shinichi was thinking. He quickly leapt from the car into the house, telling the driver to wait. He pulled out some random clothes for Haibara then ran quickly back to the car. He further asked the driver to drive to the hospital. Ran looked curiously at the clothes in Shinichi's hand.

"Those look like Ai-chan's clothes..." Shinichi blushed but didn't say anything.

…

At the hospital Shinichi sent ran into the bathroom with Haibara's clothes. He could only imagine the remarks he would get for going in there. Haibara came out and gave him a look. "Does this look like it matches to you?" she growled.

"Well if you're that angry about it then go change back into your other outfit," he retorted. "Let's go." He took the girls back out and hailed another cab. The driver was an older man who grinned when he saw Shinichi with the two little girls.

"You three remind me of me when I was younger. Your daughters are very cute." Shinichi blushed deeply while Haibara and Ran giggled. "Well let's get you all home. It's a little early to be out with such youngsters." He drove all of them back to the agency; Haibara and Ran fell asleep along the way and Shinichi was prone to do so as well, but the car stopped before he could doze at all. The driver looked at the sign. "You're a detective, huh? Remind me to call you if I ever need a case solved. Good luck with those two."

"Thank you sir, good night...I mean morning." He picked the two girls up and carried them up the stairs. He put Ran in her bed with a pair of pajamas next to her and set up a futon for Haibara. With all these things done, he pulled a pair of his own Conan-sized pajamas and sat in the dining room, leaned up against the wall. There weren't any more futons so all he could do was wrap himself up in a blanket. Then he decided to crawl under the kotatsu. He fell asleep very quickly but didn't get to sleep much at all.

At 8:45 in the morning Mori woke up and made too much noise. Kaito was also up just after him. Kaito looked all over the apartment and when he found the child-sized teenage detective under to table he laughed the himself then woke him up. Conan tried to sit up but smacked his head on the table.

"W-what am I doing under here?" he asked in a dazed manner.

"If you really forgot what happened last night I'll tell you after you get dressed." He helped him out from under the table then sent him into Kogoro's room still half asleep. Kaito threw his pajamas after him then closed the door.

Ran stepped out in her pajamas that Shinichi had picked out and looked around. Haibara came after her, looking utterly exhausted. "I'm so glad that was a dream..." Ran breathed.

Haibara smiled knowingly. _It wasn't a dream at all..._

Ran looked down at Haibara then at Kaito as he walked by. "I guess Conan invited you guys to stay over, right?"

"We really just invited ourselves..." Kaito replied quietly. "Sorry for the intrusion!" he added more loudly so that Ran could hear.

Ran smiled. "I'll make you guys some breakfast. She headed to the kitchen.

Haibara looked at Kaito. "Where's Kudou-kun?"

"I sent him in to get dressed. He must have crashed. Do you know where I found him this morning? Under the kotatsu! He's so weird."

_More like thoughtful..._she laughed mutely.

Kaito and Haibara headed to school while Conan stayed home and slept. When Haibara arrived at home, she wrote down the observations from the accidental experiment.

She sighed to herself..._Interesting, very interesting indeed. This is the most information I've collected for a while now..._and she continued to type away on her computer.


	12. The Banana Thief

Everyone had gathered all the shells their buckets could carry, well everyone, that is, with the exception of Conan and Haibara. While the kids were enthused by the shells, Lupin was content to pester Conan about his laziness and passiveness when it came to playing with the kids. "Why not play like a kid again? No one can ever have the chance to enjoy life like this again!"

"I'm not a child anymore." Conan retorted. "And I don't want to be a kid again!"

"Suit yourself!" he laughed, kicking up sand as he ran away and yanking off his shirt later down the beach. "I love the beach!"

Conan smacked his hand to his face. The other kids joined him in playing in their bathing suits while Conan and Haibara relaxed under the umbrella on the blanket. Soon Ran and Sonoko came out from changing. Conan heard Ran advance behind him and looked up to find her standing over him putting on sunscreen.

"Oh! Conan-kun! Sorry, am I blocking you?"

"Not at all!" he exclaimed blushing slightly and waving his hands around. He took note, at this point, of Ran's bikini (pink with black spots) then glanced at Sonoko's (black and strapless) then readjusted himself on the blanket. He suddenly felt a towel smack his face. He scrambled up and glared in the direction from which it came. Haibara grinned slightly the turned back to a book she had.

"What was that for?" he whispered.

"Nothing...perv."

"What did I do?!"

Ran and Sonoko asked if either of the two would care to join in playing with the beach ball in the water. Both declined. With an "okay" the girls off down the beach and both relaxed. Lupin skipped over purposely spilling sand onto Conan's shirt. He sat up and slapped his hand on the ground. "What now?" Conan growled.

"Ran-san's pretty cute in that swimsuit. Aoko would always wear a one-piece and it's not flattering at all," he shook his head in a disappointed manner.

Conan turned to Haibara, "Allow me to reveal to you the real pervert." He gestured to Lupin. "And I would prefer if you kept yourself and your dirty mind away from Ran. I know how you are..."

"Oh! Says the boy who always announces the color of girl's underwear..."

"Hey! I'm just stating facts!"

"You could say that I'm doing the same."

"Touché." Haibara added to Lupin's burn from behind her book.

"Shut up!"

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi ran up to the three. "You should build a sandcastle with me! I bet we could make a bigger one that everyone else!"

"Nah, I'm not the sandcastle building-type..."

"I'll help you build one!" Mitsuhiko joined, running up with Genta just behind.

"Me too!" the other agreed.

"Conan-kun? Are you sure?" Ayumi hesitated.

"Don't worry Ayumi," Lupin said producing a pair of glasses and putting them on his face. "You can pretend I'm him and I'll make a sand castle with you!" Conan clapped a hand to his face, suddenly realizing that his glasses were missing.

"Give it back!" he hollered.

Ayumi laughed. "It's okay Lupin-kun. Conan-kun needs his glasses; I'll build a castle with all of you." She grabbed a bucket and a shovel then ran off with the others.

Conan reflected as he saw the group run off, then smiled. "You know, it's actually nice to have him around sometimes."

"So he can take your place when you don't want to do something?"

"Yep. Plus because he's my age and can understand situations, he's another helping hand in some matters when two of us aren't enough."

"Like when handling detective boy cases that turn south?"

"Yes, I don't like having them coming around in a murder case, especially when the murderer may take another victim."

"Your father let you around dead bodies."

"Yes well that's different. I stayed well out of the way."

"Unlike you do these days..."

"I know what I'm doing now. Not that I didn't back then, I mean, I read all those Holmes' cases and Agatha Christie novels, and I had my dad too. Egh," he scratched his head. "It's just frustrating sometimes."

"But you do have to admit that without them you would have had a harder time solving some cases."

Conan shrugged in response. He watched as a motor boat moved across the horizon of the ocean, lost in thought. The wind picked up a bit and blew the blanket around and some other articles of trash. A piece of paper stuck to Haibara's arm. She took it and looked at it with a smirk. "We might get to have a magic show tonight," she muttered.

"Huh?" Conan took the paper from her and read it over. He laughed quietly to himself. "A banana-shaped stone of yellow Sapphire is being exhibited a little ways up the beach, huh?" He paused for a moment and reflected. "So that's the reason he invited us all out here; that brat." Haibara shrugged and continued reading her book, Conan took the paper and threw it away like a responsible person would, secretly hoping that his suspicion about this trip being planned for a heist was wrong.

* * *

><p>Because the group was simply so large, two rooms were needed to house all of the people. And the reader is possibly wondering…how the hay did these kids get here or do they have a chaperone? The answer is yes. Agasa and Kogoro drove the two parties. So the reader no longer needs to worry.<p>

The rooms were divided so that the older people (including Ran and Sonoko) could actually sleep if the six kids wanted to stay up and talk. Which rather than talking, they decided to play a game. It was at a mid-point in the game that Lupin started up. "Darn it! I forgot my shirt at the beach!" he rubbed his head stupidly. "It can't be helped; I have to go get it. I'll be right back." The kids looked at him as he turned to leave.

"Can't you just wait and get it tomorrow?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"It could already be gone you know," Haibara added stoically without looking up from the game.

Lupin laughed awkwardly. "Well, I really do need to find it; it was my dad's…"

"Then we'll help you find it!" Ayumi joined, standing up. "It must be very precious if it was your dad's and he might get angry if you lost it… "

"No, no, that's okay, you keep playing, I'll be back before you can say…"

"_Magic_?"

Conan looked straight at Lupin expectantly. An understanding passed between the two about the night's events.

"Sure. Magic."

Lupin slipped out of the door and closed it behind him. He slipped down the hallway quietly then went outside and waited. His car finally came up and he hopped in with a happy greeting from Jii. "I have your suit in the back," Jii told him as he drove. "Well, I at least thought that you were going as you are now, correct?"

"Yep," Lupin searched through is phone for his floor plan of the building. "I frankly doubt that this stone is Pandora, though. But I have to go now because I've already sent the note. Inspector Nakamori will be expecting me." He pulled out his disguise and began changing into it. "But all the way out here, it's surprising that he has any jurisdiction. Maybe the local police force is just being lazy. "

"I'm a little insulted by that," came an all-too-familiar voice to Lupin.

"Really?" He sighed. "What are you doing here, kid?"

"Kid yourself! All you do is mess around like some kind of comedy routine covering it up with 'this is a hesit to find the organization that killed my dad'."

"Don't even start with that." Lupin puffed out his chest. "I do much more than a comedy routine, do you realize I risk my life every time I do one of these heists? But either way I do have fun with them."

"Hmph. I see. So, how about a challenge to spice things up?"

Lupin gazed steadily at his rival. "Isn't you being here spicing things up? I mean, you are going to be trying to catch me right?"

"Hmm, yes and no. I won't be directly helping to catch you, but I will be a force to lead to your capture." He grinned smugly as if he were quite enjoying trying to intimidate the other boy.

Lupin crossed his arms and shrugged. "Fine, what's your challenge?"

Conan paused for dramatic effect. "You have to become a comedy routine." Lupin started. "Yes, a literal comedy routine. Amuse me, hide up against walls, hide in fake plants, ect. But you can't make yourself look like anyone and you cannot change outfits."

Lupin was very surprised, and a little conflicted. Conan wouldn't come up with a scheme like this; he wasn't the type to blackmail people into humiliation. So who was behind this? "What am I, your circus monkey?" he fumed in retort, hoping to sound out the person who was behind this idea.

Conan shook his head. "It's Haibara's idea. I wouldn't do this sort of thing, as you know. But I made her disguise as me so she asked for payback. I told her to blame it on you, so she told me to tell you to do this. I'm just the in-between guy. "

"Why are you coming anyway? And how did you get in here?"

"Don't mind me. But if you don't do this, I'll make sure you get caught, okay? I'd rather not be punished by Haibara," Conan finished with a smile completely ignoring the other's questions. Jii stopped the car at the destination, and Conan immediately disappeared.

He was a little weirded out by that whole conversation, but he decided to do his best. He knew the wrath of Haibara full-well. Hopping out of the car, under a cloak, and heading towards the entrance, Lupin readied himself for his memorable heist.

* * *

><p>He landed in the kitchen, no one was there. he slipped out through the swinging doors and immediately began to slide. He slid across the dining room where the jewel was displayed then landed, face-first into a pile of banana peels. The entire room was littered with them. He looked up to see a banner that read 'banana festival and yellow sapphire exhibit'. <em>Ah, I see…<em>Lupin observed. He stood slowly, but ended up slipping and landing on his back again. This time it knocked the wind out of him. "Bananas on a waxed tile floor, good one Kudou." He sat up slowly and happened to glance at his cape, currently covered in smashed banana. "Well, a couple hundred bananas can't get Kaito Kid down!" He stood and almost slipped again, but caught himself. He put his hands on his hips and laughed triumphantly.

Suddenly the door slammed open and Nakamori and his crew marched in. looking around, they saw that the bananas had been disturbed, but saw the lack of a person. They shrugged and followed the cleared path that led up to the jewel. Lupin, who had been up on the ceiling, ninja-styling it, dropped noiselessly onto the floor then barrel-rolled over to a fake plant. He pulled two twigs from it and put one on either side of his head to disguise himself. He was still a distance away from the jewel and wanted to hear and get a better look at the situation. So he grabbed the plant and shuffled his way over to the group. The group suddenly turned to look at him; he froze, replacing the plant back on the ground. The looked away and he scooted a little further. They looked again and he stopped and planted himself in the same way. He decided he was close enough, so he began to listen.

"This is the gem that I own," explained a man with dyed yellow hair to Nakamori. "I call it 'Banana Sunshine!'"

"Banana Sunshine?"

"No! You have to add the exclamation point or it doesn't get the point across!" Nakamori nodded, taking down notes. "Try it."

"Banana Sunshine!" the man nodded approvingly.

"Bananas are my life!" he spread his arms wide in an exaggerated way. "If they weren't I would have never found my adorable wife, never have made my fortune, never would have my riches…!" he hugged himself in an equally dramatic way. "You have to love the banana in order for the banana to love you. And a love filled banana is the best banana. Do you like bananas, Inspector?"

Nakamori was startled out of writing, and nodded hastily. The man once again nodded his approval. The man rattled on…banana…banana…banana…Overall, moving the plant was a worthless endeavor, he learned nothing of the security system only about this weird man's obsession with bananas. He waited until the group left then began to investigate the scene. He threw one of his braches at the box which contained the gem. Nothing happened. Was there a weight sensor? He threw the fake plant, weighing at least 25 pounds, in front of the box. Not a movement. He stepped in front of it. Nothing happened. he put his hands on the box. Nothing. He swallowed nervously. He took the glass box firmly and pulled up. No alarms or noises. He sighed and placed the box on the ground. As soon as it lay flat on the ground, it shattered with a small 'bang!'

Lupin jumped and looked for a place to hide as footsteps approached, but there was no place to be found. The police burst in again and looked around and saw the shattered box, but missing stone. "He's got the 'Banana Sunshine'!" Nakamori screamed. "Kaito Kid! Find him at all costs!" The people stormed back out of the door and slammed it shut and locked it behind them. Lupin stood away from the wall and looked after the group of rampaging men.

"You're kidding, it's like I'm invisible tonight. I stood against the wall! They ran right past me!" he shook his head.

"Fun isn't it?"

Lupin jumped and looked at Conan. "How…?"

"It's the cartoon force field."

"Wha-?"

"It's what you're standing in. The force field. Only people who are specifically looking for you can find you."

"That defies physics!"

"Nah. Have you read _The Invisible Man_?"

Lupin shook his head. "Why would I read that?"

"That books explains it all. It's the mirror trick you use to make yourself disappear. You really should read more."

"And where did you come from?"

"Ah, through the wall."

"No you didn't! There's no way!"

"It's all a hologram," came another voice. Lupin turned to see Haibara, the detective boys following her. "This entire building is."

"Then how can we stand on it?"

"It has a metal structure, of course," Mitsuhiko explained.

"Didn't you know that, silly?" Ayumi added.

Lupin clutched his head between his hands. He stuck his arm to the wall but hit a soft squishy material rather than passing though it or hitting something hard. "You liars!" he yelled. "This isn't funny! Not funny at all. What's going on here?"

The detective boys all attached their hand to his shoulders and began to shake him. "It makes sense; you're the one who doesn't make sense! Well then, if you don't believe us, wake up! Wake up!"

* * *

><p>Lupin felt his eyes snap open and immediately balled his fit and hit the first thing he had contact with. He sat up in a daze and looked around. He saw Ayumi sitting next to Conan at the end of the bed who was holding his nose in one hand and a pair of broken glasses in the other. His brain finally registered the events that happened as a dream and he realized what happened.<p>

"Conan…?"

"Lupin! You're horrible!" Ayumi yelled at him.

Lupin looked at Conan and cocked his head, "Did I do that?"

"Yes! How could you not remember?" She scolded. Haibara came back with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel and handed it to Conan.

"You sure have a strong punch for a kid," Conan laughed awkwardly.

"You hit him hard enough to case epistaxis," Haibara added in a cold voice. "What happened?"

"I should be asking you that," Lupin said, quite bewildered.

"Well," Mitsuhiko began, "we were all dead asleep when you suddenly started muttering something, I don't know what. We all got up, except Genta (who's still passed out), because you were pretty loud. Ayumi tried shaking you awake, but you pushed her face away."

"Did I hit you?!" he said in a panic.

"No, but I was a little surprised."

He sighed with relief and Mitsuhiko continued, "You quieted down a bit then suddenly you started shouting 'you liars!' and getting all frustrated so Conan-kun tried to wake you up and you ended up socking him pretty good. You might have broken his nose!"

Lupin turned to Conan and made a sorry face. "My bad, sorry about that."

Conan waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "It happens." Then his eyes narrowed in a way to say 'I'll get you for this' and he continued, "What was your dream about anyway?"

"It was…" Lupin considered for a moment then spoke. "You know, I don't really remember. It was weird though." He grinned and rubbed his head. He then looked over at a clock and saw it was about 5:30 in the morning. He turned back to the others and changed the subject, "Well, while we could go back to bed, we might be able to see the sun rise on the beach if you'd like."

The kids looked amongst each other and nodded their consent, then decided to get ready to go. Conan walked over to Lupin and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "So, what _was _your dream about?"

"It was about a heist that I called you all here for, and that the jewel belonged to this crazy banana-obsessed guy, he was a real creep. Then you kept popping out of nowhere and saying weird stuff like this is the 'cartoonr force-field' and 'you have to act like a cartoon character or suffer Haibara's wrath'!"

"I see." Part of this dream was true, he had most likely brought them all here for a heist, as he saw on a paper, but it wouldn't hurt not to remind him about it. "You sure do have some odd dreams. Just try not to punch anybody else, okay?"

Lupin laughed awkwardly. "Right."

**And that is the end of that. Finally, another chapter! I'm tellin' ya, it gets harder and harder to write when ya don't have any ideas…. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


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